Members gather to discuss the book "A Not Too Greatly Changed Eden"

Fourteen AGC members and friends met on January 13 at the Hand House in Elizabethtown to discuss “A Not Too Greatly Changed Eden: The Story of the Philosopher’s Camp in the Adirondacks” by James Schlett. The book explores the 19th century gathering of 10 distinguished artists and intellectuals at Follensby Pond, the Philosopher’s Camp, including Emerson, Agassiz, Hoar, and Lowell. The camp was led and organized by W. J. Stillman, the book’s protagonist. The AGC group noted the book’s extensive historical research and close attention to detail. Clearly the book was written to set the record straight about previous old wives’ tales and more romantic notions of the camp. Many in the AGC group were surprised that so little is known about the actual conversations at the camp. Instead, the camp activities which were recorded seem primarily to have focused on paddling, hunting, and fishing, and simply enjoying  a few weeks of primitive living in the wilderness. The AGC group expressed doubt about the camp representing the start of the environmental movement and land preservation in the Adirondacks, but agreed that Schlett did an excellent job of placing the camp within the context of the mid-19th century cultural transition in America from its rural past into its more urban, industrial future. Most of all, the AGC group enjoyed the book because it described places near and dear,