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Our thanks to Jerry Orton for his contribution
A chapter from Mount McGregor's History
Mount McGregor Optimist, January 1923, Vol. 9, #4
By J. F. O'Neill
For a thousand years or more there stood on Mount McGregor a towering pine-a monarch of the ancient forest which was a landmark to all who traveled in the valley. Legend tells us that long ago the Mohicans used this pine as guide by day and that fire under its branches, lighted by the Great Spirit and kept burning by the loveliest of the Mohican maidens, served as a beacon for the warriors at night. Mighty were the deeds the world knew through the centuries in which this giant sentinel looked out over the land which writers of history have said the fairest in all the New World. Rapid was the succession of sanguinary happenings during the last two hundred years of the tree's vigil, for below in the valley a long procession of historic characters moved up and down the trail at Mount McGregor's base intent on making war. But the old age of the pine was passed amidst more tranquil surroundings. As time went on it looked down on scenes of gaiety and splendor, and it withered and passed away, as old age should do in the atmosphere of peace.
It is of this later era I write-an era long after the Mohican and the Sioux had buried the hatchet and strange peoples no longer drench the valley of the upper Hudson with blood. With the passing of the king of the pines came a period in which Mount McGregor's cool forest shade and sweet air were enjoyed by many thousands who came to seek their pleasure on the Mountain's lovely summit.
Historians of the region claim that what is now Mount McGregor was long known as Palmertown Mountain and it was so named because toward the close of the French and Indian Wars an Algonquin band came and settled in the valley and they were called he Palmertown Indians. The little village the Mountain's base was not then known as Wilton, but as Palmertown, and for years after the renaming of the village the Mountain was still the Palmertown Mountain and the range of which its a spur is the Palmertown range to this day.
About the year 1861 Duncan McGregor, a Scotchman lived on a farm near Wilton and often he lifted longing eyes to the Mountain's forest crowned crest. It is said he first climbed to the top with a picnic party and found it such a delightful place that he arranged for the purchase with the State into whose hand it had fallen through nonpayment of taxes. He built a gravel roadway and cleared a space of several acres, and here on bright day in September of 1872 came abut four thousand people, members of the Sunday schools in neighboring villages, to enjoy the hospitality of Mr. McGregor. Then it was that the heart of the ancient pine was made merry with the laughter and frolic of happy youth, for the picnic was held beneath its spreading boughs-the first of the pleasant associations its last years were to witness. So too, the tree heard the renaming of the Mountain, for its was during the picnic the Reverend Mr. Adams name the place Mount McGregor in honor of the host of the day.
During the next couple of years the possibilities of the Mountain as a pleasure resort were thumping in the brain of Duncan McGregor and in 1874 he built a restaurant and a small hotel on the site of the present baseball grounds. Here Mr. McGregor entertained summer visitors for several years and apparently not without profit. In 1881 in consequence of an offer made by the Saratoga, Mount McGregor and Lake George Railroad Company he disposed of all his holdings on the Mountain, including about a thousand acres of land. This corporation conceived the idea of a commodious hotel on the top of the Mountain, and a railroad which would enable visitors to reach it easily. W.J. Arkell of Canajoharie was the moving spirit of the enterprise and vice president of the corporation, and Joseph W. Drexel of Philadelphia was one of the its members.
A narrow gauge railroad leading from North Broadway in Saratoga Springs was begun on March 17, 1882 and was completed on July 17 of the same year. The railroad was ten and one half miles in length and following the route of the present Hudson Valley Railway for some distance it wound along the mountainside at an easy incline. The Mount McGregor railway station was situated a short distance to the northeast of the site of the present Sanatorium garage and the old roadbed may still be seen between the Grant Cottage and the Eastern Lookout. On the day the new railroad was formally opened to the public with appropriate ceremonies, those who came to the Mountain saw that a vast change had taken place within a few months. The same hotel built by Mr. McGregor near the old pine had been purchased by Mr. Drexel and moved to the present Grant Cottage site and on the spot when it formerly stood, the new Hotel Balmoral containing over one hundred guest rooms and equipped with what in those days were the latest comforts, invited the guests to enter and enjoy the hospitality provided.
During the fifteen years in which the Hotel Balmoral flourished Mount McGregor was a favorite mountain resort for tourists and summer visitors from all parts of the world. Being so easily accessible the Mountain was one of the chief attractions in the vicinity of Saratoga Springs which in those years was at the height of its summer glory. Through the open season the narrow gauge railroad ran seven scheduled trains loaded with visitors to the Mountain each day, besides extras made necessary by the crowds the regular trains were unable to accommodate. The sojourner on Mount McGregor today cannot but be impressed with manner in which the charms of the place exploited. A lithographed folder published in 1887 carried this information:
The last home of General Grant
A Summer Sanitarium, 1300 Feet Above the Sea!
FREE FROM FOG AND DEW.
Cheapest and Most Popular Excursion in the County!
Only 40 minutes ride by rail to the top of the mountain.
HOTEL BALMORAL
on the mountain, now open, under the management of Mr. Albert Frost. It is capable of accomoodating 250 guests; lighted by Gas and Electricity. Sanitary arrangements and Ventilation perfect.
Among the distinguished visitors who came to the Mountain during this period was President Harrison. An entertaining narrative of President Harrison's visits appears in Marshall P. Wilder's book, The Sunny Side of the Street.
Much of the land purchased of Mr. McGregor had been improved by the corporation. Vine covered walks led from the station to the hotel and other points of interests. Pretty summer cottages were scattered through the woods here and there, and today the lone survivor stands a short distance from the residence of Dr. Horace J. Howk. Lakes Anna and Bonita were well stocked with fish and small pleasure boats plied their waters. To satisfy guests the Hotel Balmoral was unable to accommodate, other buildings on the Mountain were used as boarding places. The laundry and engine house were situated near the present tennis court and the Art Gallery, which later was removed to the elevation between the present Rest House site and the Grant Cottage and rechristened the "Arkell Cottage," stood at the upper end of Artist Lake.
Who bestowed its name upon Artist Lake is a question, but it generally agreed that is was so named because of its proximity to the Mountain's center of art, the Art Gallery, and because of the excellent subject it furnished for pencils and brushes of artists who camp here to spend their summer hours. Lake Anna was name named by Duncan McGregor in tribute to his niece Anna Sprott, who later became Mrs. Anna Tillotson, but the christening of Lake Bonita and the reason therefor are veiled in the mists of the past.
It so happened that in June 1885, the greatest man then in the world lay dying in New York City. His Memoirs were but half written and physicians feared the end at any hour. Mr. Drexel, knowing these things, invited General Grant to come to Mount McGregor where the pure Adirondack air sweet with the aroma of miles of pine forests might enable him to prolong his life and spend his last days in quite. The General arrived on the Mountain on June 16 and took up his residence in the Drexel Cottage. At once he felt the invigorating effect of the cool, bracing air and in the few precious weeks thus added to his life he was given strength to finish his work, for his last days saw "finis" written to his immortal Memoirs.
On the Eastern Lookout today may be seen the monument that marks the place where General Grant had his last view of the broad land that stretches away from the Mountain's foot. This was on Monday July 20, 1885 and old photographs show the General seated in a small rustic building on the edge of the Mountain. This building has given place to the monument, inscribed and sent by an interested person in the South, which bears on the face the words, "On this sport General Grant had his last view of the Valley." The monument is built upon a concrete base and has protective railing placed there by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company to prevent visitors from taking chips off the monument which some years ago had to be recut because of that reason.
Just when the ancient pine ceased to stand upon the Mountain is not known, but were it in its customary place on that morning of July 23, 1885 when the great General breathed his last, it would have looked down in awe upon a scene of mourning which was reflected through all the civilized world. It would have looked down during the days in which the General's body lay in state in the cottage upon such pomp and ceremony as is made only in tribute to great leaders. It would have witnessed a world's expression of respect for one of the greatest generals of all time who twice filled the presidential chair of the world's greatest republic.
The cottage in which General Grant died still stands, and the lower rooms are preserved as they were when he passed the remnant of his life in them. But the Hotel Balmoral is no more. In December 1897 a midnight fire destroyed it, and it is said the glare of the flames so brightened the sky it was possible to read a newspaper in the streets of Corinth. For a brief while a new hotel, larger and more splendid to be situated on the edge of the Mountain, was spoken of but interest waned and the idea was forgotten. With the destruction of the hotel the Mountain as a summer resort lost most its popularly and the railroad was discontinued. Once more Mount McGregor threatened to revert to the original wilderness, for men ventured up its steeps in decreasing numbers and then only to enjoy holiday picnics, or to remove some of the remaining timber, or to pay tribute of respect to the memory of General Grant.
Today no trace of the historic pine remains, nor may be found many signs of that period when the seclusion of Mount McGregor was invaded by the wealthy and the aristocratic and the great who came to abide for a while where there was relief from the heat and the dust of cities. Although no sign marks the place where towered the ancient monarch during the long centuries, who can say the spirit of the stalwart old pine is not yet standing on the Mountain's summit whispering to those who now come here impaired in health word that tell of courage, strength, and long life?
Author's note" Acknowledgment for much of the data contained in this article is due Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester's, "History of Mt. McGregor" and "Birth of the Vestal Flowers"; George E. Harker's "Memoirs of the Sanatorium, or Historic Mount McGregor"; Col. O.P. Clarke's "General Grant on Mount McGregor;" and Mrs. Martha Josephine Clarke, the present custodian of the Grant Cottage, Edwin Green, William A. Lockwood, and other of whose fund of information concerning this period of the Mountain's history free use has been made. The book of views from which the cuts were taken was placed at the disposal of the Optimist by John G. Phelan, of Wallingford, Conn.
Dear Friends: I hope you like this brief story of Mt. McGregor. If you know of someone who would like it please pass it on. This is a good addition to the one about the Vestal Virgins. Next time you go up to the Grant's Cottage and the lookout you can really imagine this pine tree.
Or E-Mail me directly, if there's any problems with the form.
