The name
Verplanck Colvin, 1847–1920
He was a lawyer by training and a surveyor by obsession, and for nearly thirty years he measured the Adirondacks so that the rest of us could find our way around them.
Colvin began the Adirondack Survey in 1872, working with chains, levels and a small crew across country that had never been mapped to any standard. That first season he traced the Hudson to its highest source, a small pond high on the shoulder of Mount Marcy that he named Lake Tear of the Clouds. He set bolts and benchmarks on summits, some of which are still there.
His annual reports to the Legislature were part science and part argument. The argument won. The Forest Preserve was created in 1885, the Adirondack Park in 1892, and in 1894 the state's constitution declared the Preserve "forever wild." The Survey lost its funding in 1900. Colvin died in Troy in 1920, largely forgotten.
His reports are in the public domain. We keep a copy. We took his name because the mountains he measured are where we first learned to sleep out.
A short timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1847 | Born in Albany, New York. |
| 1872 | Begins the Adirondack Survey; identifies Lake Tear of the Clouds as the Hudson's highest source. |
| 1885 | New York creates the Forest Preserve. |
| 1892 | The Adirondack Park is established; its boundary is drawn in blue. |
| 1894 | The "forever wild" clause enters the state constitution. |
| 1900 | The Survey's funding ends. |
| 1920 | Dies in Troy, New York. |