Saving the New York house of Robert Louis Stevenson from the edge of ruin
The house, in Upstate New York, is home to a major piece of literary history centred around Robert Louis Stevenson
It was a cottage on the water where Robert Louis Stevenson enjoyed better health, a rush of fame and the energy to plan the ultimate adventure of his life.
Now, as the writer’s legacy holds firm in what would have been his 175th birthday year, his former home at Saranac Lake in Upstate New York sits on the edge of ruin and faces an uncertain future.
The Stevenson Society of America have launched a $2 million [£1.5m] fundraising campaign to save the property, latterly run as a museum, where Stevenson and his wife Fanny lived for six months after moving from Bournemouth in 1887 to be close to a new sanitorium for TB patients.
It proved to be a fruitful time for Stevenson and his family. They arrived in New York just as The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was premiering in the city. Flooded with adulation, the writer’s finances, career and health hit a sweet spot.
Meanwhile, his endorsement of the sanitorium that treated him brought thousands of customers through its doors.
Now, it is hoped Stevenson’s restored former home will draw many thousands more visitors as the writer’s work continues to reach new audiences.
Disney recently announced a new adaptation of Treasure Island, with Johnny Depp and Ridley Scott launching their graphic novel take on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, with a possible film to follow.
Dr Trenton B. Olsen, president of the society and Stevenson scholar, said: “Stevenson is here to stay. People who admire Stevenson, appreciate his work and value the preservation of cultural heritage can help us save one of the great literary sites in America.”
Dr Olsen described the house, known as Baker's Cottage during Stevenson’s time, as “absolutely pivotal” in the writer’s story.
He said: “It was only a six-month residence, but his stay at Saranac Lake really changed the course of his career - and his life. When he arrived in New York, there was this Stevenson mania as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde premiered. He was thronged by fans, reporters and publishers, something which he had never experienced before.
“He had no copyright protection in America and there were so many pirated copies of his work, yet still publishers came with the most lucrative contracts.
“He worked on The Master of Ballantrae at Saranac Lake and completed some of his best-known essays there. Because of this relative improvement in his health and finances, he was able to plan for his life-long ambition and the voyage to the South Pacific that led him to Samoa for his final years.”
Stevenson, who was born in Howard Place, Edinburgh, described the house at Saranac Lake as a “first-rate place”, with the writer enjoying ice skating and hunting in the woods as his health allowed.
Dr Olsen said Stevenson liked Saranac Lake in part because it reminded him of Scotland. As he wrote to his cousin Bob Stevenson, "the whole scene is very Highland, bar want of heather and the wooden houses”.
Today, the house offers an “intimate” connection with the writer, Mr Olsen, an associate professor in English at Brigham Young University-Idaho, added.
He said: “We have his ice skates, we have his invalid’s desk, which he often used to write in bed. We also have the woven mats from Samoa that were placed on his casket.
“We have a handkerchief embroidered with RLS. It actually has a cigarette burn in it. He said he ‘favoured cigarettes without intermission except when coughing or kissing’.”
Several cigarette burns can be found throughout the property, which opened as a museum in 1916 by The Stevenson Society of America. It was the world’s first site dedicated to the author, who died in Samoa in 1894, aged 44.
Organisers included luminaries such as Associated Press founder Charles M. Palmer and Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum.
Stevenson’s family members and friends joined the society and donated most of its vast collection - from the author’s infant cap to the last pen he ever used. All can be found at the house at Saranac Lake.
The house and museum fell on hard times in the Great Depression and never financially recovered. But its neighbours have acted as volunteer resident curator-caretakers for more than 70 years.
Mike Delahant took on this role in 1980, following his father and grandparents and expected only to stay for a short time. “But 45 years later, here I am,” he said. “I too, seem to have fallen under the Stevenson spell.”
The house requires major work, with a recent report finding its condition as “extremely poor”. The roof has been replaced, but a major renovation, inside and out, is required.
Dr Olsen said: “We want to preserve it as a historic house, where people can come and get a sense of what it was like for Stevenson. It is also a museum and our collection is not confined to the six months he spent there - it covers his whole life.”
In 2024, the cottage was one of only 71 institutions in America to receive funding for an initial preservation assessment from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Dr Olsen said: “Failing to preserve the cottage would be an immense loss for literary history. We’re committed to securing its future. We will be doing everything we can to connect with donor networks in New York and Los Angeles, and Stevenson lovers around the world.
“There is a quote I like from Stevenson, who wrote from Saranac Lake having planned this year-long tropical cruise in the Pacific. He said ‘if I cannot get my health back more or less, it is madness. But of course there is hope - and I will play big’. And we are going to take our inspiration from that.”
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