Adirondack Real Estate
“The Adirondacks” conjure up images of hiking, canoeing,
camping, Great Lodges, funny-looking outdoor patio furniture and,
for some, real estate. Whether you are looking to get away from
routine of city or suburban life and spend time in a deep-woods
cabin, or searching for a second home from which you can hike in
the summertime and ski in the winter months, or if you plan to relocate
to one of the most beautiful regions in the country, you will find
that Adirondack real estate is very desirable…and very precious.
Covering six million acres, The Adirondack Park is HUGE, which
might lead you to believe there is virtually unlimited real estate
potential up there. Fortunately, however, our government foresaw
such a demand for property and development in the region, and created
the New York Forest Preserve in 1892. The New York Forest Preserve
in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains today stands as one of
the strongest protections of land in the world. Describing the “Forever
Wild” concept, the preserve stipulates … “The
lands of the State . . . shall be forever kept as wild forest lands.
They shall not be leased, sold, or exchanged, nor shall the timber
thereon be sold, removed or destroyed.” In fact, the Preserve
worked so well in protecting the land that is was used as a model
for the U.S. National Wilderness Act of 1964.
The Preserve was strong, but remember that strong demand for desirable
Adirondack real estate mentioned previously… land values increased,
Adirondack towns and villages developed, and large tracts of land
were retained in the private sector. This made the Preserve’s
goal of protecting all of the Adirondack Park unfeasible. Today,
the Preserve covers only half of the six-million acre Park. The
Adirondacks now consist of a unique structure of private lands intermingled
with publicly owned tracks of land. Private lands consist of small
tracts around hamlets, large open spaces owned by timber industries,
a few remaining wealthy estates, and recreation clubs.
The Adirondack Mountains have always been popular and desirable
places to buy real estate, but in the 1960’s the region became
very accessible to a larger and demographically and economically
more diverse segment of the Northeast U.S. population with the completion
of interstate highway 87. New subdivisions and sales of private
lands for second-home and seasonal housing development really took
off after this point.
Today's Adirondack Park is home to over 135,000 permanent residents
in 105 towns and villages, and host to over 200,000 seasonal homes.
This is where Adirondack Mountain history meets today’s real
estate market. You can find a simple rustic cabin or a grand family
compound facing a pristine lake, or a fancy ski condo. Any property
you find will be close to some part of the Adirondack Park that
remains protected and “Forever Wild”.
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