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Saranac Laker chosen to manage Lake Kora great camp

The boathouse at Lake Kora (Photo provided)

RAQUETTE LAKE — Lake Kora, a 122-year-old Adirondack great camp, has announced Cameron Karger of Saranac Lake as the new resident manager.

Lake Kora is situated on 1,000 private acres and a 500-acre private namesake lake south of Raquette Lake. It offers 12 guest rooms in seven separate historic structures and accommodates a maximum of 24 guests, all for a nightly fee of $19,980, including meals and non-alcoholic beverages. It is slated to open on July 1 for the season through Oct. 15.

Karger comes to Lake Kora with 20 years of boutique, luxury hospitality management experience in addition to extensive knowledge of the special nature of Adirondack Great Camps.

Lake Kora, formerly known as Kamp Kill Kare, was designed by famed great camp architect William West Durant in 1898 for Timothy Woodruff, who was lieutenant governor of New York at the time. It has had only five owners in its history. The second was Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt. New York Assistant District Attorney Francis Patrick Garvan purchased the property in 1914. In 1982, Ann Mallinckrodt purchased Lake Kora. Since 2005, Lake Kora has been owned by a private family based in Austin, Texas, and New Zealand, which owns the property under the company name NYK3, Limited. In 2015, the current owners opened this historic great camp to select clientele in summer and early fall for exclusive use only.

“Living and working in the Adirondacks for more than 10 years, I have come to learn much about these unique and historic retreats specific to upstate New York, and Lake Kora is known as one of the most picturesque and most remote, private escapes,” Karger said in a press release. “The staff and owners have done a tremendous job of maintaining what is now one of the last truly authentic and original great camps.”

Cameron Karger (Photo provided)

Karger previously served as general manager and sommelier for The Point, an exclusive, year-round, all-inclusive 11-room Relais & Chateaux and Forbes Five-Star property on Upper Saranac Lake, and former great camp of William Avery Rockefeller.

Previously, Karger served as assistant general manager, beverage director, sommelier and restaurant manager at The Inn at Dos Brisas, one of only two Relais & Chteaux properties in Texas as well as the only Relais & Chteaux Grand Chef and Forbes Five-Star restaurant in the state.

Karger also served as assistant winemaker at Aubert Wines as well as Futo Wines, both in California’s Napa Valley. He has also held positions at Bryant Family Winery and Colgin Cellars, both in St. Helena, California, The Little Nell Hotel in Aspen, Colorado, and Historic Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

Karger studied viticulture and oenology at Napa Valley College. He lives in Saranac Lake with his wife and three sons.

Inside the dining room at Lake Kora (Photo provided)

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