Rocky Peak Ridge, the easternmost High Peak of the Adirondacks, stands at 4,420 feet in elevation. The mountain is first referred to as “Bald Mountain” in Gray’s 1876 Atlas of Essex County, though in Colvin’s copy of this atlas, this name was erased and replaced by “Rock Peak.” Though the etymology of this peak is a bit unclear, some Keene Valley locals give credit to Bill Laverty for naming it around 1880. Laverty and his brothers owned Hunter’s Home in New Russia, a hotel for sportsmen, where they cut a trail up to the summit of Rocky Peak Ridge from near their resort.
In 1878, New Russia guides Fred J. Patterson and Sam Dunning claimed their status as the first to climb the peak. As Carson notes, a forest fire ravaged the peak in 1913, leaving it a desolate, rocky ridge littered with slash and bare of any vegetation. Hunter’s Home also burned to the ground in 1925, only leaving behind stone-and-cement decorative posts and two now privately-owned buildings: Brookside, which was used for overflow, and a dance hall. Today, the long, still bare summit ridge provides impressive views of neighboring Giant of the Valley, the Great Range, and the Dix Range.
Manchestter, Lee. “Discovering ‘Hidden’ New Russia.” Adirondack Architectural Heritage, 30 Sept. 2005, www.aarch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/050930VLPNewRussia2.pdf.