Winslow Homer's Minerva
by Peter G. Mc Shane
The Story
Winslow Homer, the dyed-in-the-wool New Englander who broke with European art traditions and painted America with homespun realism, apparently was not always the reclusive soul he at times has been portrayed. My recent research of a newly discovered portraiture by Winslow Homer has opened more avenues of thought, especially to Homer’s sojourns in the Adirondacks and to open and explore his social life when surrounded by his outdoorsmen friends.
Identification of (1) the portraiture as Frederick Loveland, the “greatest guide in the area” (2) shows that Homer enjoyed more comforts and congenialities at the Baker farm and later at the “men-only hunting and fishing club” (3)( The Adirondack Preserve Association) then we were previously aware.
Winslow Homer had easy access to the architecturally beautiful structure Aiden Lair Hotel. With its grand ballroom and active social life located an easy distance through the back roads, it is inconceivable that Homer would spend his months at the Baker farm without partaking in the fun at the “Aiden Lair”, a Celtic name given by early Scot sportsman meaning “safe haven”.
Aside from being an early mail and stage stop that served the area (4), Aiden Lair was located atop Loveland Hill, (now known as Rte 28N) and was also on the original road to Long Lake via North Creek to Minerva and up through Newcomb. Its facilities accommodated all types, from cattle drovers to the family of President Theodore Roosevelt. The hotel overlooked the Loveland Flats toward Vanderwacker Mountain range. This same mountain range can be seen in Eliphalet Terry’s 1859 oil of the Baker Farm (predecessor of the North Woods Club, hereinafter ‘NWC’) and in the photo of the original Aiden Lair Hotel.(4) This visual connection of the Vanderwacker mountain range helps in understanding the convenience and proximity of Aiden Lair and the Baker Tract to one another.
Construction of what is presently known as the North Woods Club Road connecting NWC to Rte 28 was only started in 1890 at the Kellogg homestead and completed in 1895. (4)
The original road to the Baker farm (cleared in the 1850s) began at Indian Lake and extended east to the Indian and Hudson River’s junction, where the LaPrairie and Stevens families, among others, settled and then forded the Hudson. The road continued past Dunc Pond to the Baker farm. (4c)
It is important to note that sometime before 1870 another tract or road was cleared from Aiden Lair back to the Boreas River somewhat above the present bridge. This road ran adjacent to Aiden Lair and retreated back over the Boreas River to the Baker farm and continued one mile south to ford the Hudson River to the towns of Indian Lake and North River. Among the town’s industries were live entertainment and bordellos, patronized largely by the sports and the migrant lumberjacks and loggers who labored in the numerous camps throughout the area. (5)
Other back roads eventually connected NWC to the Aiden Lair. In 1895 a wagon track/road was cut from Minerva over Kellogg Mountain to shortcut the road from Aiden Lair to NWC. It still had to cross the Boreas River. Previous to this wagon track, much of this approach to NWC was so rough that walking was the preferred mode of travel.(4d) It is difficult to imagine the moregenteel boarders of the Bakers Farm and later NWC members walking. It is more probable they used another approach, such as coming from the south on the Indian Lake Road or, most likely, the more convenient road adjoining the Aiden Lair Hotel. All the pasture and hardscrabble farmland that existed within the logging roads and tracts that crisscrossed the area and stitched it together are now overgrown and have returned to their natural state.
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©2008 Peter G. Mc Shane