Forever Wild: The Adirondacks in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era

FAIN: BH-293664-23

SUNY Research Foundation, College at Cortland (Cortland, NY 13045-0900)
Kevin B. Sheets (Project Director: January 2023 to present)
Randi Jill Storch (Co Project Director: August 2023 to present)

Two week-long workshops held in July 2024 for cohorts of K-12 educators exploring the Gilded Age and Progressive Era through the idea of wilderness. 

This project offers educators an unparalleled in-person workshop investigating the Gilded Age and Progressive Era from the unique perspective of the wilderness. Led by history professors from SUNY Cortland, the project uses Camp Huntington, a National Historic Landmark site located on Raquette Lake in New York’s Adirondack Park, as an inspiring instructional resource exploring how ideas of wilderness interacted with the urban to shape America in this critical period. Built by William West Durant in the 1870’s, Camp Huntington serves as home base in collaboration with nearby Camps Sagamore and Uncas and the Adirondack Experience Museum. With the 1890 House Museum in Cortland, the partnership challenges participants to explore conflicting ideas raised by the wilderness at the turn of the century and to examine the core relationship between the urban and the wild that marked the period’s cultural, social, economic, and political maturity.

Media Coverage

Teachers to revisit Gilded Age in Adirondacks (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Jennifer Wilson
Publication: SUNY Cortland PR
Date: 9/22/2023
URL: http://https://www2.cortland.edu/news/detail.dot?id=6c4e24e9626bd4700d623358ecbdfb76