Friends of Thayer Lake LLC v. Brown

OPINION OF THE COURT

Garry, J.

Plaintiffs are the collective owners of thousands of acres of real property in a remote area of the Adirondack Mountains in the Town of Long Lake, Hamilton County. The land was conveyed by defendant State of New York to Benjamin Brandreth in 1851 and, as pertinent here, has remained since then in the private ownership and control of descendants of the Brandreth family. Plaintiffs’ property is bounded on the north by the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area, which was formerly privately owned, but had been fully acquired by the State by 1998, and now consists of over…