The founder of the Crater Club, John Bird Burnham, was one of America’s leading conservationists. He rose to extraordinary heights in the political and governmental field of conservation, also engaged in writing, lecturing and promoting many ideas, policies and causes. His steps to start a small summer-camp rental business, which resulted in the formation of today’s Crater Club, were begun in 1899, the year after his return from the Klondike gold rush. During the summer of 1900, Burnham’s first camp was rented to Dr. Henry R. Seager, an author and professor at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1901 Burnham’s construction work included building the roads south of the Burt Road, icehouse, two barns, five out-buildings, bathhouse, dock, water system and several camps south of the Burt Road. He began a firewood business, a fresh milk service, a laundry, a small store, a livery of 20 boats (sailing skiffs) and 10 canoes, a. livery of several work wagons, passenger wagons and a riding stable and road grader. He also dug a well connected to several springs and built a pumping station.

The next big advance in 1903 began with such additions as the tennis courts, Clubhouse, roads north of the Burt Road, a small golf course, new rental camps, two telephone lines, a telegraph line at the Clubhouse, more barns and housing for employees. He soon added a post office and moved the store to the Clubhouse. He built two large hotel camps for renting single and double rooms, one of which we know 4 today as Red Rock. It still has original room numbers on the bedroom doors. Burnham’s building style seems to be best described as “Rustic Simplicity.” This effectively combined Adirondack rustic architecture with his idea for marketing these simple buildings as a part of the “Simple Life” lifestyle he was promoting at the Crater Club. The phrase “Rustic Simplicity” is actually found in the Objectives of the Club as printed in the Crater Club By-Laws, under Article I. It reads as follows: “The object of this corporation is the establishment and maintenance of a not-for-profit recreational community ...and to maintain the rustic simplicity that has always characterized the Crater Club.” Year after year Burnham worked at developing the Club. By 1913, there were many buildings devoted to Club use, such as Mushroom for use as the Manager’s house, a camp for lodging workers, a foreman’s cottage, cook’s cottage, waitresses’ cottage, horse barn and garage, a guests’ garage, storage barns, an enlarged ice house, 16 rental camps plus 100 undeveloped acres. At one point there were over 14 buildings on Club grounds dedicated solely for service purposes. The core of the Club was in place by 1913. There was another burst of building activity in the 1920’s, and the number of rental camps expanded to 29 sometime before 1930.

The Simple Life was a pre-WWI national cultural movement, and this turn-of-the-century nature revival has direct application to our history. In our first Club brochure, Burnham wrote “The atmosphere of the Colony is unpretentious, and everything is very simple.” An early Crater Club ad read: “Simplicity is the key-note.” The Club’s early success was not accidental but the result of good marketing. Burnham advertised with precision to market his rustic Club to Episcopal clergy, college professors, educators and other white-collar professionals. Many authors were attracted to the early Crater Club, and in its heyday there were over 150 authors summering at the Club with every camp having its share of famous writers. The Crater Club reflected Burnham’s philosophy to create a fulfilling, aesthetic and healthy lifestyle, which he called Rustic Simplicity. The original private property owners were a major part of Burnham’s plan to create a viable resort. Private property owners coexisted with the Club’s resort operation as a sort of unincorporated partner in the enterprise throughout the early existence of the Club. After the Burnham era ended, it was these private property owners who joined together to purchase the entirety of Club property to save the Club from bankruptcy in the 1960s.

Since then the club has operated largely on the contributions and commitment of private owners and summer members who serve the community in various committees and on its board of directors, dedicated to preserving the original ethos of the club, its architecture, and its land, while stewarding it towards future generations.