Charles Fenton

Charles Fenton was one the five children of Orrin and Lucy Fenton. He was born in the pioneer settlement of Number Four on June 15, 1829. As a young man he worked in the woods with his father and brothers as a market hunter, trapper, outdoor guide and probably as a logger. 

At the age of 29 he married Annis Brown and moved to the 320-acre Brown family farm nearby in Watson. They had two daughters, Cora and Julia. According to the census, during this time in addition to farming he engaged in the lumber business, but exactly what role he played is unclear. 

In 1863 his parents sold the homestead at Number Four to a neighbor, Losee B. Lewis. By that time the Fenton House was already widely known as a sportsmen’s hotel. Lewis continued to operate the Fenton House and guide sporting tourists for a few years. By 1870, the year his father Orrin died, Charles Fenton had accumulated enough money to buy back the property. 

Even though the “little red house” that had served his parents well still stood, Charles embarked on an ambitious expansion of the hotel. He spent $5000 [$100,400 today] to build a large three-story frame hotel complete with a viewing platform on top of the roof. This hotel could accommodate up to 50 guests by 1872. Ten years later, with the addition of cabins and extensions on the main building, it could accommodate 100. By the time he retired in 1900 and turned the hotel over to his daughter, Cora Fenton Parker, it had grown into its own small vacation village that could accommodate up to 200 guests at a time. 

The Fenton House earned high praise in all the guidebooks of the time. Here is E.R. Wallace ‘s description of the property from the 1888 edition of his Descriptive Guide to the Adirondacks: 

"The Fenton House, from a small and rude beginning, has grown into an extensive villa. In addition to the main structure, a large building (60 x 32), 2 ½ stories high, has recently been erected; the entire lower floor of which serves as a grand drawing room for guests. In this grand hall, which is warmed by a huge fireplace and lighted by showy chandeliers, various kinds of amusements are gotten up by the visitors, including dancing and dramatic performances, which are greatly enjoyed. Connected to the house are supplementary buildings, including a store, (well stocked with all kinds of supplies), and a post office; and clustered nearby are several substantial cottages, offering pleasant accommodations. A well, with a veritable sweep, supplies the house with some of “the best water in the world.” The table offers every variety and is proverbially excellent."

Charles Fenton was educated at the Lowville Academy. Judging from the articles he wrote for various sporting magazines; he was an excellent story-teller. He wrote about his early life at Number Four in an article titled “Then and Now” in Recreation, Oct. 1905, pp. 363-364. He noted that when the few other early settlers of Number Four moved away his father, Orrin, stayed on because he had a fondness for hunting and fishing. Charles and his older brothers shared their father’s love of the woods. As soon as they were old enough, they joined their father’s in his market hunting and trapping. 

He justified engaging in illegal market hunting by arguing that the only way to make money in those days was to sell venison and furs. He remembered that the venison buyers would come around in June or July to make contracts for the fall. He would start hunting in November, as soon as the weather was cold enough to preserve the meat, and hunt until about January 1st when the season closed. The most deer he ever killed in one season was 62, while average market hunters would take about 10-20 in a season. He estimated that over time he had sold about 2000 deer to market. 

He explained that he had long ago stopped hunting for market and turned his efforts to finding ways to preserve the deer. He was an early proponent of making jack lighting and running deer with dogs illegal. He formed the Fenton Game Preserve Association and leased 45,000 acres of forest around Beaver Lake for their exclusive hunting ground where he could regulate the number of hunters and to some extent their behavior. He claimed credit for doing a great deal to preserve the deer herd in the Adirondacks. 

He and his brothers also did a lot of trapping in their younger days. In the fall of 1844, when he was only 15, Charles and his older brother George headed deep into the upper reaches of the Beaver River to set a line of marten traps. Somewhere along the way they lost the trail. Although Charles insisted that they were not really lost, just bewildered. Years later Charles told the rest of the story to E.R. Wallace who reported it in the 1889 edition of the Descriptive Guide, pp. 400-401. Here is how Wallace described the situation: 

"They had occupied their time one day in making traps near the shores of a lonely little lake they had discovered, and which they had christened “Moose Pond” on account of the ground in the vicinity being completely trodden up by an army of moose. The weather being fair, they made no provisions for a shelter, but at 10 o’clock at night they were surprised by a fierce rainstorm, which soon drenched them to the skin. Rising in the morning from their sleepless bed of wet boughs, they resumed their occupation and continued it throughout the day, notwithstanding the continued violence of the storm. On the evening of the second day while preparing for a brush shanty, they found to their dismay that their matches were wet and that it was impossible to light a fire. After holding a brief consultation, they decided to start for the “Carthage Road” which the State was then cutting through the Wilderness from Crown Point to Carthage. They knew that men were working upon this road at Stillwater, and that there they would find shelter and fire. They traveled in their direction about 2 miles, when it became so dark they could no longer see the needle of their compass. They had reached the summit of a mountain, and there they were compelled to await the morning. The pitiless storm still continued, and they almost perished with the cold. Repeatedly they disrobed themselves and wrung the water from their clothing. They had to exercise violently, yea, almost constantly, to keep from perishing. “After about a month,“ said Mr. Fenton, “daylight gladdened our eyes. Talk about a polar night; it can be nothing in comparison with the length and terrors of that hapless night!” As soon as they could see their compass they resumed their journey, and in a few minutes discovered a lake, which they immediately named ”Lake Terror.” They arrived at Twitchell Creek and in sight of fire at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. There they waded 20 rods in water 3 feet deep, to reach the bank of the creek, where they had to wait, exposed to the cutting wind, until some men on the other side, workmen on the road, could build a raft to take them across the stream."

Charles was already 41 years old when he re-established the Fenton House in 1870. He had grown up in the sportsmen’s hotel business and had a knack for charming patrons. The hotel flourished under his management. Apparently, he also managed the farm in Watson and continued to work as a guide for favored visitors. For example, he guided frequent visitor Frank Bolles from Massachusetts on a snowshoe trip to Albany Lake in March 1875. Bolles later documented in a Forest and Stream article. Chares frequently led fishing and hunting parties from his home base at the Fenton House. Finally, in 1900, he was ready and able to retire. 

Charles and his second wife, Zaida Wegg, were vacationing in Lake Placid in September 1905 when they decided to spend the day climbing Whiteface Mountain. They hiked to the top in the morning and had lunch on the summit. During their descent in the afternoon Charles collapsed about two miles before reaching the trailhead. Zaida ran to summon help, but by the time she had climbed back to where her husband fell, Charles had died. He was 76, an outdoorsman to the end. 

His obituary in the Lowville Journal and Republican, Sept. 28, 1905 noted, “He was a man of sterling integrity, as honest and true as the eternal rocks of his forest home. One of the kindest and gentlest natures … He will be mourned in all quarters of the country by a host of friends as one of nature’s noblemen, a thorough sportsman and a kindly, gentle man.”