Whitney property on Little Tupper Lake is up for sale
Remote Camp-On-A-Point listed at $5.25 million, Long Lake estate still on market
LONG LAKE — “Camp-On-A-Point,” a remote luxury property on Little Tupper Lake owned by the husband of the late Marylou Whitney, is up for sale.
This is the latest Adirondack property put up for sale by John Hendrickson after the 2019 death of Whitney, his wife of 22 years, a socialite and racehorse breeder.
Hendrickson became one of the largest private landowners in the Adirondacks upon Whitney’s passing. He still owns the 36,000-acre Whitney Park through the logging company Whitney Industries.
“Camp-On-A-Point,” 575 Sabattis Road, is listed by the Merrill L. Thomas real estate agency in Lake Placid and Realtor Mike Raymaley is the listed agent for property. Raymaley said Hendrickson does not use the property much. The former tennis player and his late wife never did, Raymaley said, and he’s not exactly sure why the property was built in the first place.
“It was just something to do,” he said.
Merrill Thomas co-owner Nicholas Politi is also a broker working with this property.
He said the property was listed on Friday and Raymaley said they’ve already done a couple of showings, including one on Tuesday morning.
The year after Whitney’s death, Hendrickson listed their 36,000-acre Long Lake estate for sale, but so far, no buyer has materialized for the massive $180 million Whitney Park.
He said it was lonely there without his wife.
“I would give everything back for one more quality day with her,” Hendrickson said at the time of her death. “I would give my life, freely, willingly for one more great day.”
The state has wanted to purchase this land for the Adirondack Park forest preserve, adding to the protected state land that makes up around half of the park. But Hendrickson has been adamant — he will not sell to the state.
In 1997 he and Whitney got married, had Camp-On-A-Point built and sold around 15,000 acres to the state — including the majority of the land around Little Tupper Lake, except for the Camp-On-A-Point and a property across the lake, which is owned by Cornelia Whitney Tobey, Whitney’s daughter from her marriage to Cornelius “Sonny” Vanderbilt Whitney.
But after the lake opened to public access, somehow, bass were introduced into the lake, nearly driving the heritage brook trout there extinct. Hendrickson’s been wary of the state’s ability to care for the land ever since.
According to the listing at tinyurl.com/yxeh8m98, the “Camp-On-A-Point” home is “nestled in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains on the pristine shores of Little Tupper Lake.”
The estate itself is built on a peninsula, jutting out into the lake and surrounded by dark blue water.
The property, 15 miles south of the village of Tupper Lake, sits in a sparsely populated area of wilderness flush with ponds and lakes. In total, it is 131 acres — 58 acres of land and 71 acres below the lake. According to Hamilton County tax records, annual taxes come to around $11,922.
This year, the county assessed the value of the land at $2,349,500 with an assessed full market value of $2,936,875.
The five-bedroom, four-and-a-half bathroom home sits on 7,000 feet of shoreline with a sandy beach and a two-slip boathouse.
It is surrounded by the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area environmental preserve — which the couple sold to the state in 1997 — so it is very remote.
Politi said the remote nature of this property makes it “one of the most unique properties” they’ve had the chance to sell in 80 years of Merrill Thomas selling Adirondack properties.
“What sets this property apart is its exclusive motor boat access, making it one of only two properties on the lake with this privilege,” the listing says.
A gated entrance also ensures “privacy and security.”
The listing urges prospective buyers to “embrace a lifestyle of natural beauty, adventure and tranquility, all while enjoying the convenience of motorized watercraft on this pristine and protected lake.”
Photos on the website show the home glowing in the setting sun, a beacon of light on the dark waters of the lake. The house is covered in a light-colored wood and lots of windows.
The listing did not include photos of the interior on Tuesday, but Politi said they should be added soon.