The Philosopher's Camp
Perspectives from The Artist's Road
The Philosopher’s Camp 1858 William James Stillman
A now famous journey was undertaken in 1858 by a group of ten men to a place called Follensby Pond in the Adirondacks. These men, from Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts constructed a primitive lodge from materials they found. The place became known as The Philosopher’s Camp.
Most well known among the adventurers was poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Accompanying him was another poet, James Russell Lowell, two doctors, two scientists, two lawyers, the younger brother of writer Oliver Wendell Holmes, and an artist, William James Stillman.
Stillman organized the trip, as he had explored the region on many painting trips. As the only artist member, he has left us with a visual record of what has become a significant gathering of some of the most famous thinkers of the time. At the time the trip was organized, the area was still difficult to access, requiring days of extensive preparations and travel by train, wagon and bo…