Great Camps and hermits

Adirondack Great Camps and Adirondack hermits are two very different, very important parts of Adirondack history and what it means to live in the region. The Great Camps, constructed for the very wealthy and their friends, and the hermits, individuals seeking solitude in nature, exemplify the struggle of the park, the struggle to find a balance between outsiders and insiders. Shoumatoff writes about the ridiculousness of many of the Great Camps: he writes that they are architectural nightmares with bizarre layouts, great propensity to burn down, and paradoxical. These camps, which he notes are signs of having conquered nature though are supposed to provide a means to enjoy nature, embody nonetheless the necessity of outsiders. Hermits are the insiders, they aren't wealthy or opulent or fragile. Halpern writes that Mae and Ned did not become hermits accidentally. They did not wake up one morning to discover they were living separate from others in a hard to reach place with barely any money. Instead, they searched for three years to find the place they would disappear to. The insiders are more intentional. They have to be; there is no money for them to fall back on, no other homes, no stable job in the city like that of the outsiders. 

I think that writing about hermits and Great Camps in necessary in an anthology about the Adirondacks. The abundance of nature and the uniqueness of this place make both possible. I wonder if writing about Adirondack hermits and Great Camps will ever help balance the two extremes of life in the park or if the divide will remain or grow worse. Acceptance of hermits who live off land they do not own are no longer tolerated as lovable eccentricities and great showings of wealth are ever more criticized as awareness of economic disparities in the park grows. I hope that, in the years since 2000, Adirondack writing has become more palatable to a national market and brings a more critical eye to the living legend that is the Adirondack Park.