NEW YORK—When the historic Queen’s Castle needed help, HistoriCorps volunteers responded, joining Heritage staff from the Green Mountain & Finger Lakes National Forests at Caywood Point to prepare the structure for future use.

The Queen’s Castle can be found at Fossenvue Camp, a summer getaway on Seneca Lake. The camp was erected by suffragist Elizabeth Smith Miller and six other women in 1875. It became a regional center of intellectual and cultural life, welcoming many summer visitors and prominent reform activists. Queen’s Castle was gifted to Smith Miller on her 77th birthday and is the only remaining building in the area of the camp. The building has not been publicly accessible since its acquisition by the Forest Service in 1996. Public interest in the building is high, however, so staff are making strides to protect it and to welcome visitors once again.

“While we were working at Queen’s Castle this summer, we had numerous visitors ask if they could peek inside,” said Karen Bucher, Heritage program manager. “Given the historic significance of the structure, there is a lot of public interest with restoring access inside. By protecting the structure and addressing maintenance needs, we are taking steps to reopen the castle and exploring what future uses it may hold.”

Forest staff secured funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for restoration work, but they needed more hands. Volunteers from HistoriCorps came to their aid. Volunteers and staff removed overgrown vegetation, installed protective coverings over historic markings in the cabin, blocked the chimney to keep out wildlife and prevent fires, made and installed window screens and rehung shutter weights. While they worked to protect the castle, they also camped on site for a week—a very rainy week—to see the job through.

“Working on historic buildings takes patience,” said Bucher. “None of the windows in the castle were square, and finding specific paint colors, minus the lead, was a challenge. The HistoriCorps volunteers were exceptional preservationists, they went above and beyond, and we look forward to inviting them out again.”

Partnering with HistoriCorps is the first step toward reopening the castle, but next steps will be a balancing act. Deciding how the building will be used is something Heritage and Recreation staff will consider carefully. “Ongoing discussions will seek to find that balance between public use and resource protection as well as sustainable building design and historic character maintenance,” said Bucher.

HistoriCorps is a nonprofit organization that enlists volunteers of all skill levels to complete historic structure preservation projects on public lands. Volunteers are taught various preservation skills by HistoriCorps field staff, and they use those skills to repair historic places.