David Jones book reexamines Alvah Dunning’s role in Adirondack Park history

David L. Jones has finished His Woods, an eight-chapter biography of guide Alvah G. Dunning that argues Dunning helped shape the thinking that led to Adirondack Park. The book, under contract with SUNY Press’s Excelsior Editions, is expected to publish in late 2027 after five years of research and more than 60 historic images.

Why it matters: - His Woods argues that Alvah G. Dunning was more than an Adirondack legend. The book says Dunning helped shape the understanding that led to the Adirondack Park movement. - The biography challenges the familiar image of Dunning as only a сурly hermit and places him inside the region’s political and conservation history. - The project adds new primary-source research to Adirondack scholarship and uses more than 60 historic images to deepen the historical record.

What happened: - Journalist and historian David L. Jones completed His Woods, a narrative biographical history of Alvah G. Dunning, known as the Hermit of Raquette Lake. - SUNY Press’s Excelsior Editions has had the book under contract since early 2025. - Jones expects publication in late 2027. - The book comes after five years of research.

The details: - Jones says Dunning’s guidance on the 1870 Seward Mountain expedition helped Verplanck Colvin recognize the Adirondacks’ fragile balance. - Jones uncovered a previously unknown association between Dunning and Rensselaer Van Rensselaer while reviewing an account ledger in the Adirondack Experience collection at the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake. - That ledger shows the relationship began in 1834, pushing Dunning’s ties to prominent city men earlier than previously understood. - Jones also examined a "History of Alvah Dunning" written by William West Durant. - That document indicates Dunning ran a hotel for sportsmen in the 1850s, before his later retreat into solitude around 1860. - The book draws on quotations and personal accounts from the historical record to present Dunning’s voice, humor, stubbornness and tenderness. - The narrative opens with Dunning’s 1902 death and then follows his childhood, his first moose hunt at age 11 and his first guided party at age 12. - Later chapters cover his early adulthood, his retreat into solitude, his feud with Ned Buntline, his standing among other guides and a gold watch that moved him to tears. - The book also covers Adirondack Murray, Colvin, J.P. Morgan, Collis P. Huntington, President Cleveland, the rise of Great Camps and the Osprey Island standoff with the Durants. - More than 60 historic images are included, with research done extensively alongside the Adirondack Experience. - The images include Seneca Ray Stoddard portraits and other photographs of Dunning. - The final chapter examines Dunning’s legacy and pushes back on exaggerated accounts of his physical stature. - Since 2021, Jones has researched Colvin’s journals and worked with archivists at the Adirondack Experience, Morgan Library, Grover Cleveland Library and Union College Library. - Jones has also shared discoveries on the His Woods Facebook page since 2024.

Between the lines: - The research suggests Dunning’s importance to Adirondack history may have been understated because later storytelling focused more on his rough reputation than on his influence. - The new evidence also complicates the idea that Dunning simply withdrew from society early in life. The hotel record suggests he spent years moving within the sporting and elite networks that shaped the region. - Jones’s approach combines archival records, newspapers, photographs and firsthand accounts, which gives the book a more document-driven foundation than a simple regional character study. - The book links Dunning’s personal story to a larger transition in the Adirondacks, from frontier conflict to tourism, conservation and the power of East Coast interests.

What's next: - Jones expects the book to publish in late 2027 through SUNY Press’s Excelsior Editions. - He continues to frame His Woods as a broader reassessment of Dunning’s influence and the Adirondacks’ history. - Jones says he hopes the book deepens appreciation for Dunning’s legacy and for the wilderness’s ability to offer solitude and healing.

The bottom line: - His Woods aims to recast Alvah Dunning from a colorful local character into a figure with real influence on how the Adirondacks were understood, used and ultimately protected.