New Book Reveals Legendary Guide Alvah Dunning’s Overlooked Role in Adirondack Park History

Journalist David Jones completes His Woods, eight-chapter biography bringing Adirondack legend to life through original research & more than 60 historic images

NORTHVILLE, NY, UNITED STATES, October 6, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Before the Adirondacks became a protected wilderness, they were an eastern frontier of hunters, guides, squatters and land barons—a world with the conflict and ambition readers associate with the Wild West. After five years of research, David L. Jones has completed His Woods, a narrative biographical history of Alvah G. Dunning, the legendary guide known as the Hermit of Raquette Lake. Under contract with SUNY Press’s Excelsior Editions since early 2025, Jones expects publication in late 2027.

The book presents new evidence and argues that Dunning’s guidance on the 1870 Seward Mountain expedition helped Verplanck Colvin recognize the Adirondacks’ fragile balance, contributing to the movement that ultimately created the Adirondack Park.

“Dunning’s importance to the Park’s history is one of the most significant and least recognized parts of his story,” Jones said. “History has largely remembered him as a surly character who despised outsiders. His Woods unravels that story, examining his life against the forces changing the Adirondacks and his role in their future.”

Two new discoveries resulting from Jones’ extensive research illuminate Dunning’s life before his final retreat into solitude around 1860. During his review of an account ledger belonging to Rensselaer Van Rensselaer, held in the collection at the Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, he discovered a previously unknown association with Alvah Dunning that began in 1834. This places the legendary guide in the employ of famous city men long before our previous understanding.

Jones also reviewed a “History of Alvah Dunning” written by William West Durant. That document revealed that Alvah, ironic as it is considering his historic reputation, ran a hotel for sportsmen in the 1850s. A surprising contrast to Dunning’s later hermit life, sharpening the question of what drove him away from society.

“Running a hotel for sportsmen is a remarkable chapter in the life of someone remembered as the Hermit of Raquette Lake,” Jones said. “These discoveries make his retreat into solitude all the more striking. Understanding what drove that change brings us closer to the man behind the legend.”

Countless quotations and personal accounts drawn from the historical record bring Dunning’s voice, humor, stubbornness and tenderness into the narrative. Readers encounter a complicated man whose losses and conflicts unfolded as the old eastern frontier became a destination for tourists and East Coast power brokers.

Opening with his ironic 1902 death, the book traces Dunning’s childhood, first moose hunt at eleven, and first guided party at twelve. It explores his early adulthood, retreat into solitude, feud with Ned Buntline, and standing among fellow guides, including a gold watch that moved him to tears. Later chapters explore Adirondack Murray, Colvin, JP Morgan, Collis P. Huntington, President Cleveland, the rise of Great Camps, and his Osprey Island standoff with the Durants.

More than 60 historic images, extensively researched with the Adirondack Experience, include Seneca Ray Stoddard’s portraits and other photographs of Dunning. The final chapter examines his legacy and challenges exaggerated accounts of his physical stature.

Since 2021, Jones has researched Colvin’s journals and worked with archivists at the Adirondack Experience, Morgan, Grover Cleveland and Union College libraries, sharing discoveries on His Woods’ Facebook page since 2024.

“I compared original records, including the 1834 account book, with newspapers, photographs and firsthand accounts,” Jones said. “Ultimately, that research revealed Dunning’s influence on Colvin’s understanding of the Adirondacks’ fragile balance.”

Throughout Dunning’s life, civilization always seemed to chase him, a struggle Jones connects the reader to through our own with modern communication technology.

Jones led television newsrooms in Harrisburg, Providence and at Albany’s WNYT, earning Edward R. Murrow and Associated Press First Amendment awards. A Northville, New York resident, he said, “I love the Adirondacks with all my soul. I hope His Woods deepens appreciation for Dunning’s legacy and the wilderness’s power to offer solitude and healing.”

David Jones
ADK Communications
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