First Steps in Arcadia
By Izzy Kinsella & Luke McChesney
September 7, 2026
As we rounded the corner in Lake Massawepie, there it was: home. After eight days paddling through the Adirondacks, we had finally arrived. Our excitement exceeded our exhaustion as we paddled the final 200 meters to a dock full of opened-armed Arcadian alumni.
In the distance we saw the white pines and tamaracks that line the shore of the crystal clear Massawepie water. We heard the loons call, a sound we would soon associate with home. As we got closer, we began to see the friendly faces of those who lived here before, but now this place had been passed on to us.
After warm welcomes from the alumni and a pleasant surprise of sweet summer fruit, we circled up with everyone. Jacob McCoola, Director of the Adirondack Semester, read us the story of how Arcadia, the yurt village, got its name, and the significance of this place was shown through the teary eyes in the circle around us. Though these were just our first steps here, we already knew we will one day feel this sentiment as well.
The circle dispersed and we moved into a tour of the village. The first step was our composting toilet system, Clive, because there was urgent need to use it. An alum, Eva Jo, introduced its system, explained how to use it, and passed on the debate of which of the two stalls are better, left or right, Clive.
It later became apparent that our group of Arcadians prefers right Clive over left. We came to this conclusion because of the far larger “poopcano” (think volcano) under right Clive uncovered during our first chore day. The Clive chore is often a dreaded one because it involves being elbow-deep in all the Arcadian waste. One of our assistant directors, Nate Trachte, said the more you dread this chore, the sooner you’ll have to do it. This was true for Eric Kniple who dreaded it most since the tour and later ended up with the Clive chore first.
On our day of arrival, we continued the tour to the back dock in the cove where we park the barge. The barge is an old pontoon boat platform with stained 2x6s on the top. It is powered by Arcadians! We use a custom 250-meter rope to pull us and the barge across. We use it to get the majority of our supplies to Arcadia.
The following week we used the barge to bring our semester supply of firewood to the village. We did this by creating a fire line and passing logs through the hands of each Arcadian to the woodstoves which will heat us through the winter. This was the first real community chore we accomplished and it required us to fall into our natural roles in the group. Some of us pulled sleds while others navigated the firewood-filled barge only a week after we saw it for the first time.
Back on the tour, we next saw the wood-heated sauna, already heated for our arrival by alumni. Soon it would be utilized by us daily. We didn’t know it at the time, but the dock in front of it would be the location of our Arcadian hair salon. Run by Izzy Kinsella and Evie Hopper, it featured four backcountry mullets and six eyebrow slits, marking our presence in the village with our hair clippings on the sauna dock.
Headed back towards the sun dock where the tour began, we passed several hemlock trees, which were at the time empty but are now stacked high with a hammock tower. A path just past the hammocks led us to the outdoor classroom, where there are handmade wooden benches surrounding a fire pit. This is where we have had the majority of our classes so far, rain or shine. It’s close to the water and surrounded by tall white pines, creating a conducive learning environment. This is especially true because all of our classes are about the environment we are living in.
Following the path out of the outdoor classroom led us back to the first two yurts we saw during the tour, named Yellow Birch and White Pine. At the time, the yurts were empty spaces, barren except for three paco pads, heavy-duty sleeping pads that would be our beds for the semester. They would soon be filled with excited new Arcadians and all of our versions of “minimalist” packing. Just across from the first two yurts is the Lurt (the Learning Yurt), a space we have now had some of our first classes in. It looks almost like a traditional classroom lined with bookshelves and a whiteboard, but in Arcadian style, it is in a yurt and is heated by a woodstove. In it, we find and complete our assigned readings, collaborate on assignments, and play games. It is one of our main community spaces because the Community Yurt (Curt) is currently under renovation by the past and current Adirondack Semester community.
Another beloved community space is the kitchen, which happened to be next on our tour. Now, after we have settled in, it is filled with music, games, and a cozy atmosphere. Warm light illuminates our big table filled with student-cooked meals, around which we share stories and appreciations for each other. Our first meals have included fresh local produce from our CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) share, sauna woodstove salsa, and even a Massawepie largemouth bass caught by Joe Frankenfeld and Luke McChesney.
Cleaning up our wonderful meals out here is a process very different from what we are all used to. The yurt village doesn’t have running water, so in order to do dishes we boil lake water and use a three-sink system: soap, rinse, bleach. We dump the five gallon buckets of dirty water into the surrounding forest. This is a new system for all of us, so there have been some mistakes along the way, like dumping dirty dishwater onto Eddie, director Jacob McCoola’s tiny little dog and friend to us in the village, who was hiding in the bushes.
Another friend in Arcadia is Mr. G., a baby pickle barrel that we had on our canoe trip. We used pickle barrels to carry our personal belongings along with group gear. They are sealable waterproof barrels with backpack straps. Along with these are baby pickle barrels. These held cooking supplies for our cook groups of three to four people. One group labeled their baby pickle M.R.G., which at the time stood for “Mystical Red Group.” Within a few hours, Will Chalfant, a member of the red group, started calling the baby pickle barrel “Mr. G.” So after he was assigned a name, we had to develop a personality for him, too. Over the first couple days on the canoe trip he got a voice, personal history, and a hand-drawn portrait. This joke did not end on our canoe trip, though. Mr. G. has a new home in our kitchen; he floats around in there but he’s here to stay and continues to unify our group.
The first-day tour ended with a dinner the Arcadian alumni had prepared. We sat in a big circle with old friendly faces and new ones too. For some, it was the first time in this place, for others, it was a cherished return, but we were all connected through this experience, whether it had happened in the past or was currently unfolding.
The alumni shared their words of wisdom during dinner. We were left with sentiments such as let yourself fall in love with this place and the people in it, from alum Roy Duffy, while Lars Fattinger said, “Do your fern project early.” With their words, we were initiated into our new way of life in the village, ready to make this experience our own.
