The Owl's Nest

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During the 19th and early 20th centuries, moving buildings was a fairly common practice in the Adirondacks. Relocating a building was almost always more economical than building a new structure since finished lumber, fittings like window and doors, and roofing were costly to transport by rail and wagon. To move a building, it was necessary to remove the furnishings, partly deconstruct the building, brace each part, jack the building off its foundation, and pull the building on big wheels or log rollers to a new location using a team of draft horses. Fireplaces and chimneys could be disassembled, often with each rock numbered to aid in reassembly at the new site. There were no overhead wires to avoid and few utilities to disconnect. Labor and horses were readily available, especially when there were logging camps in the vicinity. The photo at the head of this article gives some idea of what the process might look like. Note, this photo is not at Beaver River.

There are a good number of documented cases of buildings being moved In the Beaver River country. I have discussed many of these in earlier posts. The old Rap-Shaw club buildings were moved from Beaver Dam Pond to Witchhopple Lake in 1901 and back again in 1916. Also in 1916, Pop Bullock’s Grassy Point Inn was cut in half and moved from the bank of the Beaver River to near the railroad station where it was reassembled.

Just before the reservoir was expanded in 1925, many established camps were moved to higher ground. Five camps at Beaver River Station were moved up from low lying lots on the southeast side of the railroad tracks. At the Stillwater end of the reservoir, H.C. Churchill moved his camp from what is now a submerged part of State Island to a lot in the Stillwater hamlet. It still exists in fine condition.

Almost all the land of the old Beaver River Club was also going to be flooded. Most of the buildings, including the beautiful Queen Anne clubhouse, were sold for salvage or simply abandoned. So far as I have been able to determine, only three of the fifteen standing private cottages of the Beaver River Club were relocated intact. Two of them still exist in good condition. The Hayden cottage was moved to a lot in the Stillwater hamlet and is now the headquarters of the Dunbar Club. Roger B. Williams Jr.’s camp “Wild-a-while” was also moved intact, including its large three-sided fireplace. It is now known as the Main Camp of the Rap-Shaw Club on Williams Island. The third camp rescued intact from the Beaver River Club was the “Owl’s Nest” owned by Carleton A. and Nellie H. Chase of Syracuse. 

Carlton Austin Chase was born November 25, 1864 in Syracuse, NY. His wife, Nellie S. Huntington Chase, was born in Oswego, NY on Sept. 28, 1864. Both came from moderately wealthy families. In 1903, Carleton Chase became president of the Syracuse Chilled Plow Company, previously run for twenty years by his father. The company was quite successful. At its peak, in the early 20th century, more than 100,000 of their tools were sold each year. In 1912, John Deere and Company acquired the Syracuse Chilled Plow, but the manufacturing operations remained in Syracuse. Chase and his partner W. W. Wiard continued to manage the Syracuse operation until Chase resigned in 1920 to accept the presidency of First Trust and Deposit Company. He was also vice president of Rochester & Syracuse Railroad Company and the Empire State Railroad. 

The Chases became members of the Beaver River Club sometime before 1914. They bought a waterfront lot on the west shore of Twitchell Creek, quite near the clubhouse. They built substantial one bedroom camp facing the shore and soon added a guest house, a few outbuildings, aa covered walkway, and a dock with an open-sided boathouse. Here’s what their camp looked like, probably about 1920.

Owl's Nest at the Beaver River Club

The Chases used their camp regularly even after it was clear that the dam at Stillwater was going to be enlarged and completely flood the Beaver River Club.  About 1921 they started to make a plan to move their camp buildings to higher ground. Nellie Chase and her husband Carleton were close friends of the Roger B. Williams, Jr. family. Both families had long owned camps at the Beaver River Club. Both families were wealthy, involved in railroads, and banking. Most importantly, both families were determined to keep a camp at Stillwater after the reservoir was raised. 

Williams had to have told the Chases of his plan to relocate some of his Beaver River Club buildings to nearby higher ground. He intended to create a family camp on the island that would emerge when the water rose behind the higher dam. True to his plan, during 1924, Williams sold his Beaver River Club lots to the State and bought two nearby hilltops. He proceeded to move some buildings intact including Main Camp, a boathouse, and an ice house. He used salvage from other buildings he owned to create a dining hall, and two sleeping cabins for his teenager children.

Before the Chases sold their lot at the Beaver River Club to the State, they must have made an agreement with Williams that allowed them to move their buildings at Owl’s Nest camp to the higher ground that would soon become Williams Island. Williams allowed the Chases to continue to use their relocated camp as long as they wished free of charge. In return they promised to give Owl’s Nest camp to Williams when they no longer wanted to use it. The Lowville Journal and Republican reported on June 25, 1925, “Mrs. Carlton A. Chase, of Syracuse, has moved her former camp to higher ground on Williams Island and is having it rebuilt on most attractive lines." The relocated Chase camp sat on the south side of the island with an unobstructed view over the new reservoir. Here’s what it looked like in its new island location.

The Owl's Nest on Williams Island 1940

The relocated Owl’s Nest camp consisted of a main building and a smaller auxiliary building used as living quarters by the Chase’s guide. The main building had a large living room, one bedroom, a kitchen and a bath with small cellar and large storage room as well as a porch looking out on the flow. It was not wired for electricity and drew water from the reservoir using a pump house on the shore below. The guide’s camp had a living room, a bedroom, kitchen and bath. A distinctive feature of this building was a large bank of windows facing the water.


Chase guide's camp 1940

When the Rap-Shaw Club bought Williams Island in 1940 Chase’s Owl’s Nest Camp was still in good shape, but it had been vacant for some years and all the furnishings had been removed. The club placed a number of cots in each building to use them as sleeping cabins. They nicknamed the buildings the “large morgue” and the “little morgue.” They were mostly used during hunting and fishing seasons. Early in September 1946, both buildings caught fire and burned to the ground. A group of members had just used those cabins, but had already left for home before the fire started. Only four club members were in camp at the time of the fire. They formed a bucket brigade, but their efforts were futile. The cause of the fire was never determined, but was likely due to a stray spark from one of the fireplaces. After the debris was cleared, the only trace of the camps was the cement footings that they sat on. Many of those footings can still be seen today.

After some deliberations, in the later 1940s the club decided to build a new camp on the site where the Chase camps once sat. The new camp was much smaller, presumably because a larger one was not justified by usage. The club decided to name the new camp building the “Owl’s Nest” to preserve its heritage. Indeed, looking directly south from the porch of the current camp, the original location of Chase’s Owl’s Nest at the Beaver River Club is under the water only a few hundred yards away.

 For a fuller account of the camps that were moved consult these earlier posts on the Annals:

·        The old Rap-Shaw clubhouse, see “The Early Rap-Shaw Club Camps,” posted 5/16/21

Pop Bullock’s Grassy Point Inn, see “Pop Bullock,” posted 6/13/21


Regarding the five camps at Beaver River Station moved in 1924, see “The Flooding of Beaver River Station,” posted 11/10/22


H.C. Churchill camp at Stillwater, see “The Old Homestead,” posted 07/29/24


Dunbar Club at Stillwater, see “Jim Dunbar and the Dunbar Club,” posted 05/20/24


Rap-Shaw camp buildings, see “Roger Butler Williams, Jr.,” posted 9/5/21

 

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