By KIM SMITH DEDAM
UPPER SARANAC LAKE — Aligning chairs in rows on a porch 16 feet wide, Scott Powell wondered if there would be enough room for all the guests.
It surely wasn't the first time the question was asked out loud on a muggy August morning at what was once Isaac N. Seligman's Fish Rock Camp.
Powell opened the Great Room entrance to his family's summer cottage. Diamond-pane glass doors slipped smoothly into their wall pockets.
Thirty amazed guests began arriving in twos, cutting trails through dew on the front lawn.
SECRET TOUR
Adirondack Architectural Heritage brought them here without saying where they would end up.
The day's adventure offered a rare public glimpse of the close-knit, multi-family summer community now called Sekon, which means "welcome" in Mohawk.
Conceived by Sekon Association historian and Web-mistress Marsha Stanley and coordinated by Adirondack Architectural Heritage Executive Director Steven Engelhart, the visit offered insight into the early Great Camp life ordained by Seligman, a wealthy New York City investment banker at the turn of the 19th century.
Stanley tracked down the original Fish Rock guest book, kept from 1905 to 1915, which the Seligman family allowed her to digitally reproduce.
Stanley shared its embellished pages soon after the guests settled, delivering a poetic sense of Adirondack escape sought by city-dwellers long ago.
The notations preserve a treasure trove of exquisite pen-and-ink drawings done by Seligman himself.
'THRILLED'
Stanley then welcomed speakers invited to narrate the tour, highlighted by the arrival of Seligman's granddaughter Dr. Elizabeth Lewisohn Eisenstein.
Two of Seligman's great-great grandchildren, Elijah and Aaron Dunn, had also traveled from Washington, D.C.
"Some things don't change," Eisenstein said, gazing toward the glassy sheet of Upper Saranac Lake.
"A look at Saranac is a thrill for me.
"My mother would have been really thrilled to see the sketches (in the guest book)."
MEMORIES
A respected historian and author, Eisenstein recalled a path leading to the Main House once lined with nasturtiums.
Theirs was a summer of orderly leisure, with meals prompt and sumptuous; Eisenstein talked of meringues and chocolate sauce.
The third of four daughters, she laughed telling of summer ping-pong matches played with her sisters "over there," she said, pointing to the far end of the porch.
Adirondack clay courts were a perfect surface for tennis, she said.
MOMENTS IN HISTORY
Along with poignant reminiscence, historic facts surfaced about the Great Camp and its builders.
Sally Svenson, historian from New York City, conclusively dated Fish Rock to 1893, which makes it the first Great Camp built on Upper Saranac Lake.
A fire on Aug. 19, 1904, destroyed most of the first buildings, and the entire complex was rebuilt the next year.
One Sekon family found where a workman scrawled his name, "Fritz Stringham June 5, 1905," on a wall under ship-lap paneling in their cottage. Left intact, the signature still marks the event.
Svenson also categorically documented Arnold W. Brunner as architect of Fish Rock Camp.
After the Seligmans sold the property in 1944, the place was used as a resort hotel. In 1964, it was subdivided and sold in some 60 lots at auction.
TRADITION
Adirondack Architectural Heritage Mystery Tour guests said what has happened since is likely the most incredible chapter in this Great Camp's story.
Sekon families, mostly middle-class professionals, bought the property at auction and immediately formed the Sekon Homeowners Association. Their cooperation over a generation has restored and preserved much of the original quintessence of Fish Rock.
"It certainly is impressive that the folks have maintained it so well and kept the ambience of a Great Camp," said George Spoll, visiting from Inlet. "It was a wonderful experience to be there, and Elizabeth was a delightful lady."
As a model for preservation and sustained use, Sekon has no equal, Engelhart said.
"It is very important, what has happened here at Sekon. We need to know this is possible."
E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com
