Welcome To

The Adirondack Mountain Reserve & ausable club

Our Mission statement

The mission of the Adirondack Mountain Reserve/Ausable Club is to preserve and protect the forests, lakes, mountain streams, and wildlife on our wilderness tract for the enjoyment of our members and, under the terms of a Conservation Easement in perpetuity to the State of New York, members of the public. We will preserve the forever wild character of this forest land and our property at St. Huberts in a manner appropriate to allow the enjoyment of their wilderness beauty. The mission also includes the operation of a club, with associated facilities, for the pleasure and respectful recreation of its shareholders.

the adirondack mountain reserve

Dedicated to preserving all things Forever Wild.

In 1858, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote about the Adirondacks, “. . . where all the sacred mountains drew around us”.

In the spring of 1886, the residents of Keene Valley and a growing colony of summer visitors became alarmed over the threatened purchase, for lumbering, of the Ausable Lakes and the surrounding mountains, together with the adjacent forest and the road leading to the Beede House, the site of the present Ausable Clubhouse. By October 1887, twenty-nine stockholders had formed a corporation, the Adirondack Mountain Reserve, which purchased outright 25,000 acres of as yet unspoiled forest, mountains, streams and lakes. The Beede House at Keene Heights, already a bustling mountain hotel for summer vacationers, was serving well as a gathering area for AMR stockholders and their families. By 1889, the Beede family had agreed to sell their hotel to a group of AMR shareholders, who planned to form a Keene Heights Hotel Corporation to operate the hotel. The Inn continued under the new ownership for a dozen or so years. During this period gas and kerosene lighting was introduced; seven “Inn” cottages, a Casino and a second wooden tennis court were constructed.

Following the original land acquisition of 25,000 acres, later purchases brought the total to over 45,000 by 1910, including most of the summits of the “Great Range,” adjustments in land holdings have taken place from time to time through conveyances to the State of New York, that have transferred to the State the responsibility for maintaining in perpetuity the “forever wild” nature of the conveyed lands. In 1978, the most recent conveyance of land left the AMR with approximately 7,000 acres, consisting principally of the area surrounding The Clubhouse, and a corridor to the Southwest (up to an elevation of approximately 2500 feet above sea level) including the river above The Club, the Upper and Lower Lakes and a portion of their headwaters.