Program

NYS Historic

Subject

House, People, Site

Location

1781 S Johnsburg Rd, Johnsburg, NY 12843, USA

Lat/Long

43.616924, -73.959258

Grant Recipient

Johnsburg Historical Society

Dunn Homestead located in the town of Johnsburg in Warren County, New York, was the home of Catharine Dunn (1801-1891) and her husband John Dunn (1793-1856), a Johnsburg town official. The land on which the homestead was established was a gift from Catharine’s parents Nicholas and Margaret Roosevelt in 1817. The gift from her parents included 480 acres of land on what was referred to as the mill lot, presumably due to the presence of mills located on the creek running through the property.

The following year, Catharine married John Dunn. They came to Johnsburg from Saratoga County in the 1820s. John was a farmer and miller, operating a saw and grist mill on Mill Creek. He served as town supervisor in 1837 and as town justice in 1841. John passed away in 1856 and is buried in the Johnsburg Methodist Churchyard, located adjacent to the Dunn Homestead.
Catharine continued to live here until her death in 1891. After this, the property was inherited by her daughter Margaret, who had lived here with her mother. In 1893, Catharine’s daughter Sarah M. Armstrong inherited the property upon Margaret’s passing only two years following her mother’s death. Both Catharine and her daughter Margaret are buried in the Johnsburg Methodist Churchyard.

By 1916, the former Dunn Homestead was being operated as Smith’s Adirondack Inn, a summer resort owned by George and Mae Smith. By 1944, it was known as Mt. Crane Lodge and was operated by Albert Garz and his wife until the 1950s. In 2021, the property became home to Camp Reece, a summer camp for children with disabilities.