The Original Pine Point Camp
Courtesy of Nancy Cohen
Pine Point Lodge boat house
Pine Point Lodge is at right centerCamp name: Pine Point Lodge
Other names: Bucknell Camp, Pine Point Camp
Lake: Upper Saranac Lake
Town: Santa Clara
When built: 1891
Owner when built: Emma W. Bucknell 1
Architect:
Builder or contractor:
Pine Point Lodge, on Pine Point in Gull Bay on Upper Saranac Lake, was the camp of Emma Bucknell, mother of Margaret Bucknell Pecorini and Dr. Howard Bucknell, to whom she gave acreage north and south on which they built their own camps.
It passed to Col. S. P. Wetherill in 1935; Wetherill married a daughter of Emma Bucknell.
In the 1950s it was bought by Dr. Howard Thompson, a Rochester urologist.
The property has been subdivided.
Truman Hanmer was a guide at the camp for a time2 followed by Albert Hathaway.
Fort Covington Sun, June 4, 1891
Across the lake from Waubeek Lodge, Mrs. Bucknell, of Philadelphia, is building a $20,000 camp.
New York Times, August 24, 1902
Wawbeek
Caretaker's residence at Pine Point LodgeMany Well - Known People in Their Camps
Special to The New York Times. WAWBEEK, N. Y., Aug. 23—Hoffman Miller and the members of his family have Dr. Herter's camp Birch Island this Summer, and Foxhall Keene has taken possession of Howard Bucknell's camp across the lake from the Wawbeek. Mr. Bucknell is spending the remainder of the Summer at the camp of his mother, Pine Point Lodge…
New York Times, August 1, 1902
A DAY'S WEDD1NGS.
Judd—Bucknell
Special to The New York Times.
SARANAC INN, N. Y., July 31.—A wedding in the forest was the novelty for the campers of the Upper Saranac Lake region at noon to-day. Dr. Charles Hollister Judd and Miss Gertrude Bucknell, both of Philadelphia, were married at Chapel Island, a picturesque islet near the northern end of the lake, [sic] by the Rev. William C. Richardson, pastor of St. James's Church, Philadelphia. The affair was informal, owing to the recent death of Mrs. Howard Bucknell, but in spite of this it was the most brilliant event of the kind that has taken place here in the forest among the Saranacs.
Wild nature contributed the decorations at the chapel and the house. There were water lilies in profusion among boughs of pine and balsam, while the pretty vista of lakes, mountains, and forests furnished the setting. The ceremony took place at noon, the members of the wedding party and the guests making their way to the island in launches and steamers, of which nearly all in this locality were pressed into service for the occasion. The members of the Wawbeek Orchestra, under the direction of Albert Wycherly of New York, played Schubert's serenade, Wagner's March from Tannhaeuser and Mendelssohn march.
Country Life
Courtesy of Nancy CohenThe bride was attended by her cousin. Miss Emma Louise Pendleton of Upland, Penn., and the best man was Charles William West of Philadelphia. The bride was given away at the altar by her brother, Howard Bucknell. She wore a gown of hand-embroidered India mull, with a French neck, a picture hat trimmed with bouquet of roses. The maid of honor was attired in white muslin, trimmed with Valenciennes lace, and wore a white lace hat trimmed with pink roses and pink velvet. She carried a bouquet of White roses.
Immediately after the ceremony there was a reception, followed by a wedding breakfast at Pine Point Lodge. The newly wedded couple left to-night, on a wedding trip, which will include a tour around the world.
The bride is the daughter of Mrs. E. W. Bucknell and the late William Bucknell, the founder of Bucknell University. With Madeline Goddardt she was at Camp Meade for some months, where she was engaged in work for the Red Cross Society. The bridegroom is a son of the late Lieut. Commander Judd of the United States Navy and a graduate, of the University of Pennsylvania, where he took a post-graduate course, and where he is now an assistant in the physiological department.
New York Times, August 10, 1902
In the vicinity of Wawbeek Lodge the announcement that Foxhall Keene will soon come to the Upper Saranac and occupy the lodge of Howard Bucknell of Philadelphia has created considerable Interest, and there is speculation over the suggestion that Mr. Keene may bring his horses into the mountains.
New York Times, June 19, 1910
The Bucknell camp, Pine Point, on Upper Sarannc Lake, has been opened by Count and Countess D. Pecorini, formerly Mrs. Margaret Bucknell Stearns of Philadelphia. Mr. and Mrs. Howard Bucknell are expected to occupy their camp, which adjoins Pine Point.
Tupper Lake Free Press and Herald, October 31, 1935
Philadelphian Gets 8-Point Buck Near Legion Camp Sunday
G. P. Wetherill, of Philadelphia Pa., left Sunday for his home in the Quaker State, with an 8-point 166-pound buck as a hunt-trophy. He knocked over the animal while hunting: in the region near the American Legion Mountain camp at the head of Big Tupper Lake.
Other members of the party were C. H. Judd, Wm. Jenkins and Colonel S. P. Wetherill with Albert Hathaway as guide and Jim Pinelle and Herbert Kentile of Tupper Lake as attendants.
Colonel Wetherill recently bought the Bucknell summer camps on Upper Saranac Lake where extensive repairs are being made.
The Colonel has engaged Mr. Hathaway as year-around caretaker and the latter will move with his family to the new post during the coming week.
For several years Mr. Hathaway has handled the U. S. mail route between Tupper Lake and Moody and has arranged to sub-lease the R.F.D. route at once.
New York Times, July 25, 1939
Dr. and Mrs. Howard Bucknell leave on Thursday for Upper Saranac, N. Y, to stay at their lodge there until they return here for the late season.
Tupper Lake Herald, January 8, 1942
FIRE DESTROYS PINE POINT CAMP GARAGE MONDAY
CAR OWNED BY ALBERT HATHAWAY DESTROYED — TUPPER FIREMEN, HELP FIGHT BLAZE
Fire believed to have caught from an over-heated stove swept a, large 3-stall garage at Pine Point Camp on Upper Saranac Lake Monday afternoon, destroying the building, a 1938 Buick sedan owned by the caretaker Albert Hathaway, and several hundred dollars worth of carpenter tools and camp equipment.
The alarm was given to Tupper firemen about 3:50 p. m. and the local fire truck made a fast run 16 miles over icy roads.. The garage was beyond saving when firemen arrived, however.
Mr. Hathaway had been working in the building Monday morning and left a fire in the stove when he came in to dinner. His wife saw smoke pouring from the garage and gave the alarm. The caretaker would have been able to save his car had not an overhead-type door jammed. With the aid of nearby campers he managed to push two trucks parked near the garage to a safe distance.
Fortunately the wind carried the flames away from, the guide-house and other adjacent camp buildings. At the height of the blaze, which caught trees afire overhead, it was feared that a 1,000-gallon gas tank, sunk in the ground only 16 feet from the blazing garage, might explode. The tank was about half-full; and the pump steamed in the intense heat.
The garage was connected with palatial Pine Point Camp, owned by Col. S. P. Wetherill of Philadelphia, Pa. Loss was covered by insurance.
Footnotes:
1. According to the June 4, 1891 Fort Covington Sun article. As her husband had died the previous year, it is likely that the camp was started under his direction.
2. Maitland DeSormo, Summer on the Saranacs, p. 125
