Thanks to all for reclaiming not just the commemorative arch, but more importantly, the reputation of Louis Agassiz Fuertes. That conflating of him with Louis Agassiz of Harvard needs to be roundly corrected! (His descendants still live in Ithaca.)
Nancy
Nancy Gabriel
303 McGraw House
Ithaca NY 14850 5442
call or text 607 339 7123
On Oct 20, 2025, at 4:49 PM, Tim Gallagher <twg3...><mailto:<twg3...>> wrote:
I’m so glad to hear this, Chris. Rescuing (and finding a home for) the Fuertes Arch would be a great project for the Cayuga Bird Club. After all, Fuertes was the club’s first president and served from its founding in 1913 until his death in 1927. 😊
Tim
On Oct 20, 2025, at 3:41 PM, Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes <cth4...><mailto:<cth4...>> wrote:
After an inquiry to the Camp Barton Staff Alumni Association (CBSAA), I was pleased to learn that all scouting-related relics from Camp Barton, including the Louis Agassiz Fuertes Arch, are currently in safe/protected storage.
If anyone is interested in facilitating further conversations with the CBSAA concerning preservation and future display of the arch, please reach out to me off-line and I’ll connect you with them.
This is a follow up from the mention in my Thursday Birding Meetup recap about the fate of the Fuertes Arch at Frontenac Point state park, formerly Camp Barton. Scott Sutcliffe has some insight and info to share and has given me permission to share his thoughts with you. Here are his words:
In December of 2024, I received a phone call from a reliable Trumansburg friend who kindly notified me there was a move afoot to remove the Fuertes Arch from the Camp Barton property because of misinformation shared with NYS Parks that Louis Agassiz Fuertes was a white supremacist and that the Arch should be removed. Fuertes was nothing of the sort – he was a champion of humanity. It appears Louis Agassiz Fuertes was mistakenly confused with Louis Agassiz, a 19th century scientist who defined white supremacy .
I immediately sent corrective information to NYS Parks, and soon thereafter received a reply: “the actual physical arch needed to be removed from the property as it incorporated icons related to the Boy Scouts that are no longer appropriate given that the property is now New York State Parks property.”
When I next visited the park in the spring, the Fuertes Arch had disappeared.
Shelley Page
she/they/ki
313-550-1437
261 Coddington Road Apt. B
Ithaca, New York 14850
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Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes — Field Applications Engineer
K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Cornell University, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, New York 14850, USA
Work: +1 607-254-2418 Mobile: +1 607-351-5740 FAX: +1 607-254-1132
https://bioacoustics.cornell.edu<https://bioacoustics.cornell.edu/>
