Camp Omega was the last of a series of camps built on Upper Saranac Lake by Thomas Blagden starting in 1870.
Essex County Republican, October 7, 1938
Thomas Blagden Dies At Saranac Lake
Thomas Blagden, who owned great tracts of land in the upper Saranac Lake region and whose family gave part of the Rock Creek Park land to the District of Columbia, died Monday night at his home at Saranac Lake, . He was 85 years old.
Mr. Blagden was one of the first major land holders of this Adirondack Mountain region. He was born in Washington and attended public schools there until 1870, when he made his first visit to this region, then little more than wilderness. He opened Camp Alpha, first of a group of beautiful mountain lodges which he built in subsequent years in the upper Saranac Lake region.
The Blagden family donated land which was added to the original 1,000 acres in Rock Creek Park at Washington.
Mr. Blagden had been a member of the summer colony at Saranac for more than 60 years. His wife, the former Helen Peabody Rich, Yonkers, whom to married in 1877, died last August. He was a member of the Sons of the Revolution, the Society of Mayflower Descendents and the Society of Colonial Wars.
Surviving are five sons, Thomas Blagden. Jr. of 25 East End Avenue. Benjamin D. S. Blagden, of 741[?] East Forty-fourth Street, and Donald P. Blagden. of 810 Fifth Avenue, all of New York City; Augustus S. Blagden, of Ambler, Pa., and Henry Harrison Blagden, of Upper Saranac Lake. Private funeral services were held Wednesday at Camp Omega. Burial will be in the family vault in Washington.
