Smith Farm
Wakonda’s 82 acres (94, including the Ostertag home) were originally part of the prosperous Smith Farm; some old apple trees still remain scattered throughout the ‘A section’. The barn (behind the Ostertag’s residence) was built circa 1850 and typical of Adirondack barns of the period. Its post and beam construction is put together with wooden pegs, which were cheaper by far than metal during the Civil War era and easier to replace. The house is built on part of the old farmhouse foundation. The small cottage to the left of the house, known as Papoose, is built over the original icehouse. In the days before “a refrigerator for every home”, huge blocks of ice were harvested from Lake Wakonda (formally Smith Pond) in the winter. Wrapped in bales of hay and sawdust and stored in the stone-walled icehouse, the ice would last through the summer and be used to preserve meats and dairy items for the farm and later Camp Wakonda. There is also evidence of old logging roads on the property; cribbing in the river at the end of the ‘A’ road discloses the location of an early river crossing for horse-drawn logging flatbeds.
A Children’s Camp
Camp Wakonda was established in 1919 as a boy’s camp during the heyday of children’s camps in the Adirondack’s, sister to other, similar camps in the area such as Redwing, Point-O-Pines, Saskatchewan, and the Brant Lake Boys Camp. Campers customarily arrived by train to Riparius and were taken by coach to camp for their summer recreation. In what is presently the Lounge, awards still hang on the walls from sports competitions between local camps. Only the North beach existed during this stage of Wakonda’s history; a whitewashed wooden dock with boat moorings on one side occupied the place of the more permanent pier there today. The first recreation hall was erected at this time, as were the red, clay, tennis courts. Old rifle shells can still be found on the grassy corner in front of C-3 which was used as a practice range.
Camp Wakonda only utilized about 10% of the original farm property. Housing facilities for the young campers at that time, consisted of tent platforms, with central facilities such as shower houses, a kitchen and dining hall, an infirmary, and staff lodging. Siding was gradually added to the tent platforms, turning them into small summer cabins. Later, three of these units were combined to create the existing cottages. Architectural drawings of the central buildings of Camp Wakonda now hang in the local restaurant in Schroon Lake. The present lounge and store were the dining hall and kitchen respectively, and the kitchen utensils displayed in the store were all used here at one time. The kitchens were furnished with coal-burning ranges and supplied with ice from the lake for food storage. The large maple display table in the store was the workbench, and the old bread-rising trough is still in place in our stores storage room, formerly the bakery. The totem poles in the store, were carved and painted by former campers, and originally stood in the campfire area. The registration booth, decorated with a stuffed pike and pictures of birds, insects, and reptiles, was formerly the Nature Hut. The gravel pit in the ‘A’ section was developed in the 50’s when the county purchased gravel from Camp Wakonda’s natural deposits to rebuild and pave River Road. The camp became co-ed in the 50’s and 60’s. In the last few years before Gene and Marlene Ostertag bought it, Wakonda became Camp Sil-O-Ette, a weight-reducing camp for girls.
Wakonda Today
The Ostertag’s acquired the property in October of 1971 (a month before they acquired the youngest of their three daughters) and steadily developed Wakonda Family Campground, building roads and sites, converting the dormitories into housekeeping cottages, and modernized the plumbing and electrical systems in all the buildings. They kept the original campground name, which is Native American for “Great Spirit”, and named the cottages for American Indian tribes. Thunderbird cottage is named after the Native American totem for the spirit of lightning and thunder. A stylized Thunderbird is the camp’s symbol. Chipped flint arrowheads have been occasionally found on the grounds, perhaps originally inspiring the Native American theme.
Although the basic campground was developed in the early seventies, the Ostertag’s have upgraded facilities over the years in an ongoing process of providing better service to campers while preserving the natural beauty of the property. The ‘E’ section along the river was improved in the mid- 70’s. The south beach’s waterfront was reclaimed in the late 70’s; one half of the sites on the ‘B’ road were converted to full hook-up sites by popular demand in the early 80’s and renamed ‘G’. In 1982-1983, a room was unsealed on the far side of the rec hall to create the Game Room, and a second playground was built near the ‘A’ road. Wakonda computerized in 1985 with a new campsite reservation program. A few years later, the Nature Hut traveled down the road with a great ceremony (and a little sweaty frustration) from its place adjacent to the laundry and was transformed into the Registration Booth. Finally, in 1989, Wakonda became a Co-op and added to the diversity and colorful history of the campground by making sites and cottages available for sale. Now, the campers that have come to love the campground, have the opportunity to become a part of Wakonda’s future.
