• Visit
  • Events
    • CHAPEL LIGHTS
  • About
    • Visit
    • Historic Saranac Lake
    • The Museum
    • Trudeau Building >
      • Contractor Portal 2023
    • PRESS Room
    • History Matters Blog
  • Research
    • Collections
    • Oral History Project
    • Local Wiki
    • Resources
    • HISTORY MATTERS Blog
  • Projects
    • Trudeau Building
    • Architectural Preservation
    • Collections
    • The Bartok Cabin
    • Oral History Project
    • Cure Porch on Wheels
    • School Outreach
    • Special Exhibits >
      • Pandemic Perspectives
  • Support Us
  • Contact
  • Museum Store
HISTORIC SARANAC LAKE
  • Visit
  • Events
    • CHAPEL LIGHTS
  • About
    • Visit
    • Historic Saranac Lake
    • The Museum
    • Trudeau Building >
      • Contractor Portal 2023
    • PRESS Room
    • History Matters Blog
  • Research
    • Collections
    • Oral History Project
    • Local Wiki
    • Resources
    • HISTORY MATTERS Blog
  • Projects
    • Trudeau Building
    • Architectural Preservation
    • Collections
    • The Bartok Cabin
    • Oral History Project
    • Cure Porch on Wheels
    • School Outreach
    • Special Exhibits >
      • Pandemic Perspectives
  • Support Us
  • Contact
  • Museum Store

Women's History Month: Marjorie Merriweather Post

3/12/2019

1 Comment

 
Today's Women's History Month feature is Marjorie Merriweather Post. Marjorie Post was the founder of General Foods Corporation and daughter of the C.W. Post (one article from 1988 describes her as the "Grape-Nuts heiress!). Post assumed control of the Postum Cereal Company after her father's death in 1914; she successfully led the corporation for the next eight years. She was among the first to recognize the prospects of adding a frozen food line to the company. This led to the acquisition of the Birdseye company.

In 1920, Post purchased a camp on Upper St. Regis Lake that was then known as Lothrop Camp. Post renamed the property Camp Hutridge at this time, after her second husband, E.F. Hutton. She immediately started extensive renovations and expansions to the camp, including on the Main Lodge and Boathouse. Work continued on the camp throughout the 1920s under the direction of Benjamin Muncil.
Picture
In 1935, Post married her third husband, Joseph E. Davies, a Washington lawyer who, from 1936 to 1938, served as the second American ambassador to the Soviet Union, under Joseph Stalin. When they returned to the U.S., Post built a Russian Dacha at Topridege as an office for Davies. The camp’s name was changed to Camp Topridge at that time.

Post spoke of Topridge as a "rustic retreat;" it consisted of 68 buildings, including a fully staffed main lodge and private guest cabins, each staffed with its own butler. It was one of the largest of the Adirondack great camps and possibly the most elaborately furnished.

As originally built, the property could only be reached by water; guests arrived by float-plane or Post's yacht at a private dock, and then via funicular to the main building at the top of the ridge. A driveway was added in later years. Three times a week, guests would gather in the 80 by 100-foot living room where full-length movies could be screened; an adjoining dining room seated thirty guests. Many of the original furnishings of the room, which included an extensive collection of Native American artifacts, are now in the Smithsonian Institution.

Post was the wealthiest woman in the US, and upon her death, willed the Camp Topridge property to New York State. All but 105 acres of the estate were added to the Adirondack Forest Preserve, and the remaining acres are currently privately owned. The camp is on the National Register of Historic Places.

To learn more about Post's life, and see images of the opulent Camp Topridge, visit our wiki.
1 Comment
Mato Ray
3/28/2022 07:48:11 am


I'm just too happy that everything is in place for me now. I would gladly recommend the use of spell to any one going through marriage problems and want to put an end to it by emailing Dr Emu through emutemple@gmail.com and that was where I got the help to restore my marriage. Whatsapp +2347012841542
Https://web.facebook.com/Emu-Temple-104891335203341

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    About us

    Stay up to date on all the news and happenings from Historic Saranac Lake at the Saranac Laboratory Museum!

    Archives

    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019

    Categories

    All
    12 Days Of SL Mas
    Bartók
    Black History
    Collections
    Cure Porch On Wheels
    Events
    Exhibits
    Friday Link
    Grants
    History
    History Matters Column
    Image Of The Week
    Letters From The Porch
    Museum Monday
    Nurses
    Oral History
    School Programs
    Staff
    Talking Points
    TB Patients
    Trudeau Building
    Tuberculosis Thursday
    Visitors
    Wednesday Mini Tours
    Winter Carnival
    Women's History Month

    RSS Feed

Historic Saranac Lake at the Saranac Laboratory Museum
​89 Church Street, Suite 2, Saranac Lake, New York 12983
​(518) 891-4606 - mail@historicsaranaclake.org ​
Join our mailing list

Historic Saranac Lake is funded in part by:
  • the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature;
  • a Humanities New York SHARP Grant with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the federal American Rescue Plan Act;
  • an Essex County Arts Council Cultural Assistance Program Grant supported by the Essex County Board of Supervisors.
Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Picture
Picture
Picture
​© 2023 Historic Saranac Lake. All Rights Reserved. Historic photographs from Historic Saranac Lake Collection, unless otherwise noted. Copy and reuse restrictions apply. ​
  • Visit
  • Events
    • CHAPEL LIGHTS
  • About
    • Visit
    • Historic Saranac Lake
    • The Museum
    • Trudeau Building >
      • Contractor Portal 2023
    • PRESS Room
    • History Matters Blog
  • Research
    • Collections
    • Oral History Project
    • Local Wiki
    • Resources
    • HISTORY MATTERS Blog
  • Projects
    • Trudeau Building
    • Architectural Preservation
    • Collections
    • The Bartok Cabin
    • Oral History Project
    • Cure Porch on Wheels
    • School Outreach
    • Special Exhibits >
      • Pandemic Perspectives
  • Support Us
  • Contact
  • Museum Store