William Amerman purchased the land he named Green Bay Camp in 1898 after about 20 years of exploring and vacationing in the Adirondack region. Before the 1800’s,except for the eastern fringes along Lake Champlain, Americans of European ancestry knew little about the area that would become a park of more than 2.6 million acres, the largest public wilderness area in the eastern United States.

Like other New York City dwellers of the late 1800’s, Amerman escaped the noisy, hot and grimy city to an area that was becoming a favorite vacation spot for New York’s merchant class. A prolific writer, Amerman kept journals detailing his summer adventures in the Adirondack Mountains. In his meticulous hand, still read by his descendants, Amerman described the beauty and wonder of the wilderness he experienced on his many treks and sojourns in the High Peaks region, the Keene Valley, the Lake George area, and other locations throughout the Adirondacks.

One entry journal dated July, 1882 recounts a family vacation with his father Benjamin, his brother Frederick, and his sisters Louise and Alice in the High Peaks, beginning with their train ride from New York City. During that early trip, William recounts their ascent of Mt. Marcy, and writes that his sisters were the first two female climbers on record to make it up and down Mt. Marcy in the same day. Old photographs in possession of the family show the lady climbers making for the summit in their long dresses.

Amerman had been searching for an ideal Adirondack property to buy. Finally, in the 1890’s, he was able to purchase three parcels on a peninsula on Tupper Lake. He chose Tupper for several reasons. First, Tupper Lake was (and is) centrally located in the Adirondack Park, formed in 1892. The location affords today’s visitors relatively short travel distances to all sections of the region. Second, Tupper Lake was secluded and quiet, away from the growing numbers of vacationers and tuberculosis sufferers in Lake George, Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. That precious solitude remains today, since much of the land around the lake continues to be wild and protected from development. And of course, Amerman chose a beautiful spot. The lake is large, nine miles long and about two miles at its widest point. The property is surrounded by the larger lake on one side and one of Tupper’s nicer bays, on the other. Green Bay derived its name from the verdant reflection of the trees that encompass it. Green Bay is also known as Whistler’s Cove, a name given it, ironically, by long-term summer renters of the Amerman property.

The first of two cabins was completed and occupied in the summer of 1899. The second cabin and a boathouse were built a year later. William willed the camp to his wife Carrie at the time of his death in 1927. William’s only son Lockhart inherited the property in 1952 when his mother died. Lockhart’s aunts had inhabited the camp throughout the 30’s and 40’s, rowing in their guide boat to town and to church. In the 1950’s the electricity was installed in the houses, and a second bathroom added to each. During the 1960’s Lockhart Amerman penned three books on the porch at Green Bay Camp. Now Lockhart’s four children   and six grandchildren enjoy the beauty of the place he left them. In 1999, the Amermans celebrated their centennial at Green Bay Camp with 60 weekend guests.

Cloudless days, mountain thunder storms and cool breezes are all part of the experience, as are nights lying on the dock under blankets of stars, the Aurora Borealis, the wind in the pines, countless bridge and Scrabble games and endless hours reading in front of the fire.