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Photograph of Camp Wild Air
Photograph by Mwanner, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Camp Wild Air

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. 10 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1905.

From the record

“Begun in 1882, Camp Wild Air was the first permanent camp on Upper Saint Regis Lake, in the town of Brighton, Franklin County in New York's Adirondacks. The camp was built by New York Herald Tribune publisher Whitelaw Reid on a 29-acre (12 ha) peninsula accessible only by water.”

Wikipedia article Camp Wild Air, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 86 National Register listings published here for Franklin County · listed in 1986 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • Address. Upper St. Regis Lake, Upper St. Regis, 12945
  • When was it listed? November 1986
  • Category. building
  • Also known as. Great Camps of the Adirondacks TR
  • Town. Brighton town
  • Architectural style. rustic architecture
  • National Register reference number. 86002930 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1905 to 1999

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 94 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Camp Wild Air, surveyed 1999
Topographic sheet covering Camp Wild Air, surveyed 1905

Fires near this property

34 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 34 fires within 5 miles of Camp Wild Air between 2003 and 2020, burning about 36 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined14
Recreation and ceremony8
Natural4
Debris and open burning2
Arson/incendiarism2
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Smoking1
Fireworks1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
8 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
6 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
6 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
5 September 2008Arson/incendiarism9.2 acresFire Department of New Yorknot named
5 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.6 acresFire Department of New Yorknot named
5 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.6 acresFire Department of New Yorknot named
29 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreNew York Forest RangersCOOLER POND #2

Every fire recorded in Franklin County

Mines and quarries near this property

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Camp Wild Air: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Saranac Juction QuarryGranitePast Producer
Unnamed ProspectStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Franklin County

Maps showing this location

10 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Camp Topridge1.6 miles1986
Paul Smith's Hotel Cottages1.9 miles1999
St. Regis Presbyterian Church2.0 miles2020
St. Regis Mountain Fire Observation Station2.0 miles2005
St. Regis Mountain Fire Observation Station2.7 miles2005
Brighton Town Hall3.0 miles2003

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 86002930 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Franklin CountyAll 86 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.