Jun 24, 2020 — Earlier this month, a fire tore through the historic White Pine Camp in the Adirondacks. The camp served as the summer white house for President Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s. Now, the camp says it's planning to rebuild.

Sandy Paben manages White Pine Camp in Paul Smiths and says the June 7 fire was the most traumatic thing she’s ever lived through. There are some things she’s grateful for, though, like the timing of the fire.

She had been home that weekend in Syracuse and arrived back at the camp just minutes before she heard an explosion at 7 p.m. An electrical fire started in the camp’s workshop. 

“I ran down the breezeway to get people out of the cabins and literally the fire department was there by 7:07 p.m." By 7:12 p.m. Paben says all guests and staff were accounted for. Had this happened in the middle of the night, Paben is sure people would have died. Instead, there were just two injuries. 

“One firefighter, he had heat exhaustion," Paben explains, "and the side of my face and my hair got singed and burned. I will take that all day, every day.”

On top of that, Paben says one of the camp’s most historic buildings was spared— the main building is where President Coolidge would dine during his summer there. Paben says one of the first things the fire department did was dump more than 3,000 gallons of water on the building.

“That decision saved that building. Literally, within five feet is scorched and another five feet and we would have lost the main building.”

"It was a world-class performance," says Steve Maselli, of the firefighting effort.

Maselli is an assistant innkeeper and helps with the camp's finances and marketing. "From one vantage point when you go to the camp it's totally unaffected and from another vantage point, where the actual building was, it's incredibly depressing."

In all, five of the camp’s thirteen structures burned. Some of the most historic buildings were spared— the bowling alley, the tea house, the tennis house. The plan now is to rebuild each structure that was lost to the fire, preserving the camp's historical charm.

“You can still book a room and say you slept in the same place that President Coolidge did and you can say you booked a room and slept where Mrs. Coolidge slept," says Paben.

"That’s what we’re about— a historically significant place that the average person can come and stay."

The camp is insured, which Paben says will help cover the costs of rebuilding. In addition, friends of the camp set up a Go Fund Me page which has raised more than $4,000 for the camp.