Flat Rock & Environs Tour: Willsboro Point
Distinct in its location and architecture, the Paine family estate in Willsboro goes back 125 years. Augustus G. Paine, Jr., moved here in 1885 to take over management of the local pulp mill. With his oversight, the mill prospered and became part of the New York and Pennsylvania Paper Company, one of the country’s leading paper manufacturers. Paine began acquiring land on Willsboro Point just north of the Boquet River, today an estate of some 1,000 acres. Beginning in 1890 and constructed in stages over twenty years, Flat Rock, a National Register-listed Great Camp, was designed by Paine and was largely built by Lyman Smith and stonemason Peter Lacey. The camp, with its surrounding trees and gardens, has a distinctly Japanese feeling.
The day also includes a visit to the Paine family’s River Road properties, Boquette Farm and Green Bay, where a fine collection of nineteenth-century farm buildings and residences remain intact. We’ll also learn about the Battle of the Boquet River on May 13, 1814.
The tour will be led by Peter S. Paine, Jr., descendant of Augustus.
The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends around 3 p.m.
FEE: $50 for members and $60 for non-members.