Caroline Bartlett, c. 1872
In Finding True North, by Fran Yardley
Bartlett's Lodge. Adirondack Daily Enterprise, November 10, 1986. Born: May 9, 1827
Died:
Married: Virgil C. Bartlett
Children: None of her own, but she adopted a niece, Carry Niles
Caroline Green, wife of Virgil Bartlett, was known for her character, and the excellence of her cooking at Bartlett's:
"Mrs. Bartlett was a strong contrast to her husband in every way. She had been a Miss Caroline Greene of Jay, a schoolteacher, before her marriage. She was a tall, strong, fine looking woman, educated and refined. She was an excellent cook, but no slave to the stove, for she had the knack of getting others to do things just as she wished them. She had a fondness for clothes, and was always exceedingly well dressed. Her disposition was phlegmatically calm, and even and her manner full of friendly poise. The violent irruptions of her husband's temper never seemed to disturb her in the least. She seemed to take them as a matter of course, and paid no more attention to them than a Neapolitan to the daily smokings of Vesuvius. It is needless to add that her share in the success of Bartlett's was very considerable." (p. 312)
"It will be recalled that the lady who wrote of the excellence of Mrs. Martin's table, said it was second only to Mrs. Bartlett's. Another lady, Mrs E. J. Dunning of New York, who was soaked and nearly swamped in crossing Round Lake in a high wind, said the discomfort was not too high a price to pay for a meal of Mrs. Bartlett's brown bread. This excellence of food and the oddities of the owner combined to make "Bartlett's" one of the most familiar and talked of places in the woods." (p. 315)
—Donaldson, Alfred L., A History of the Adirondacks, New York: The Century Co., 1921, pp. 312, 315. (reprinted by Purple Mountain Press, Fleischmanns, NY, 1992), online here.
Caroline, outlived him and sold the property in 1889 to a group of wealthy gentlemen called the Saranac Club, who expanded the tradition of wilderness hospitality.
