A Brand New Wakonda Circa 1909
"The exhibition of pictures held at Amitola (aka Wakonda) last week proved attractive to many of the residents and visitors at Lake George. The new camp is an interesting member of the Lake colony.
Mr. & Mrs. Trask have had the old Stockwell cottage beautifully remodelled and have built a charming dormitory of sixteen rooms. This dormitory is two stories high, built in gothic style, it has something of the sturdy beauty of the pine woods with its warm brown coloring and graceful proportions. At night when lighted with its rose colored lanterns the effect seen from the lake or through the trees is very beautiful. The furnishing of the dormitory is in perfect harmony with its out of door surroundings. The hangings are of buff and old blue; the furniture is stained a warm brown and there are portable beds which can easily be used for out of door sleeping upon the wide verandas.
This dormitory, the old Stockwell cottage, including a four room cottage, a laundry, a picturesque bath house and engine room form a fascinating painter's camp called Amitola (now Wakonda).
The plan of Mr. & Mrs. Trask is to make an art centre which shall grow through the years to greater proportions.
Overlooking the lake, surrounded by noble trees, a more ideal situation for an artist's camp could hardly be imagined. Writers, sculptors, illustrators, craftsmen, in fact all members of the allied arts are included among the eligible members of Amitola.
"Amitola" is an Indian name meaning rainbow. The Indians have a legend that the first picture was painted upon the clouds by Amitola, a young Indian chief.
...In the exhibition last week there were about a hundred pictures and miniatures, some of which have been exhibited before at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and The National Arts Club of New York. Mr. George Foster Peabody kindly lent four pictures done by the artists at the lake last year. The greater number of the canvasses were of the lake and the surrounding country. Between four and six every afternoon visitors will be welcome to Amitola.
The life at Amitola is made up of work and play. Visiting the camp in the morning, judging by the quiet which then prevails, one might imagine it deserted. You will usually discover a student hidden under a large umbrella painting a group of trees or a bit of meadow not far from the house while in another corner a young girl sits modelling a dog in clay and in another a man is working in pen and ink.
...The hour before luncheon is usually spent by the Amitolans in the lake. The men have built a diving tower about fifteen feet high at the end of trhe boat house dock. "
The Lake George Mirror - Summer 1909
Such was Amitola which Wiawakans know as Wakonda in 1909 when it was brand newly minted as the Trasks (who later founded Yaddo) and George Foster Peabody artists' retreat. In those early years the guest register included artists from the Northeast, including Georgia O'Keefe. Eventually the property was deeded to to Mary Wiltsie Fuller who used it as her summer home, then she gave it to Wiawaka and it became a favorite lodging place. Wakonda needs structural work done before it can again house guests. The underpinnings need shoring up. This problem occurs periodically as Edgar Grant relates in his memoir about Wiawaka circa 1983. He first came on board as caretaker in 1954. here are some of his recollections:
Wakonda circa 1954
"Wakonda Lodge was built about 1905. The first year I was at Wiawaka, the Lodge was practically hidden with brush. Also, much of the underpinning had crumbled so it was a major overhaul. In the attic of the second floor, I found old artists' canvasses from earlier days.
Although not stressed as an Art Colony, a product of the group was one Effie Fortune who painted a la Seurat, the pointillist. Eventually the first floor was arranged with two bedrooms, a lounge and a kitchen. The old wood burning range was replaced with an electric one; and domestic hot water was added. Before the domestic hot water, it was a cold water shower or else--!
Visitors that first Summer
Mr. Anthony Ewer, artist, author and actor
Mr. & Mrs. Henry Mills Alden - he, the editor of Harper's Magazine
Miss F Ballen - artist
Miss Anna Paset, a writer and one of the editors of Harper's Bazaar
Mr. Edward Dalton Stevens "a well-known illustrator"
Mr. Dannenberg, "a clever young artist from San Francsico
Miss Wheelock - a sculptor
Mrs. Kempson, known to the art world as Julie Beers was at Amitola with her daughter for a week. Mrs. Kempson is a sister of James and William Hart, the pioneer artists of American landscape. Her birch trees are famed for their grace and beauty.
Lake George Mirror 13 August 1909 and August 27, 1909
Miss Wheelock, a sculptor, made two very interesting studies of two-well known Lake George dogs. Mrs. Pattison's fine Irish Setter, and the beautiful collie belonging to Mrs. Mitchell, formerly Miss Theresa Hewitt. The dogs seem to enjoy posing and the Pattison dog, who never leaves home, appeared at Amitola the other day looking rather conscious and apparently in search of Miss Wheelock who had nearly finished a fine study of him.
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