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Robert Louis Stevenson Cottage Museum
Saving the Robert Louis Stevenson Cottage Museum:
Home of the Author of Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Opened in 1916, the Cottage is the world's first site and finest collection dedicated to Stevenson. The all-volunteer museum needs donations to preserve the historic building and secure the institution's future.
Stevenson at the Cottage: 1887—88
​Robert Louis Stevenson—the sickly, adventurous Scottish author of Treasure Island, Jekyll & Hyde, Kidnapped, A Child's Garden of Verses, and many other great works—lived at Baker Cottage in Saranac Lake, New York in 1887–1888. His health improved during his six-month stay, and he earned more from his writing in Saranac Lake than he ever had before. Here he planned his greatest adventure: the Pacific voyage that led him to Samoa for the final years of his life. His stay at the cottage was personally and professionally transformative. It's no wonder he called it “a first-rate place.”
Stevenson Cottage Museum Opening: 1915
​The Stevenson Society of America formed in 1915 and opened the cottage as a museum the following year—the world’s first site dedicated to the author. Organizers included Associated Press founder Charles M. Palmer, William Morris of the namesake talent agency, and Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Stevenson was widely seen as a leading author of the nineteenth century across various genres. His adventurous spirit and "brave philosophy of living" despite debilitating illness was an inspiration worldwide. Stevenson’s family and friends donated a vast collection of treasures from the author’s infant cap to the last pen he ever used.
3 Generations of Volunteer Caretakers: 1953 to the Present
John F. Delahant Sr., Maude Delahant, John "Jack" Delahant Jr., Mike Delahant
The Cottage Museum fell on hard times in the Great Depression and never financially recovered. It’s been preserved by a single family of volunteer resident curator-caretakers for more than 70 years. Following his father and grandparents, Mike Delahant (75) took on this role in 1980, expecting only to stay for a short time. “But 45 years later here I am,” he said, “I, too, seem to have fallen under the Stevenson spell.”
Mike and his wife, Karla, live in the Baker residence where Stevenson's pioneer landlords lived. The Stevenson quarters are now the museum space: the rooms and original furniture still much as they were during the author's time. The historic building is owned and operated by the Stevenson Society of America.
New Board Sets Out to Save the Stevenson Cottage: 2023
With no money, plans for Delahant's eventual replacement, or means to address emergency-level building repairs, the Stevenson Society formed a new board in 2023. Trenton B. Olsen, associate professor of English at BYU-Idaho and editor of The Complete Personal Essays of Robert Louis Stevenson, was named president.
Cottage Roof Replacement, 2025
In 2024, the Stevenson Cottage was one of only 71 institutions in America to receive funding for an initial preservation assessment from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. “The cottage is in extremely poor condition,” the resulting report stated, “and it is critical that efforts be initiated to protect the structure.” The board has since replaced a failing roof and secured state and regional grants for additional architectural study and building repairs. All told, however, the necessary restoration of the cottage, built in 1855 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, will cost approximately $2 million: far beyond what the all-volunteer museum has raised. Hiring staff will require additional funds.
Cost for the necessary full building restoration: $2 million
Your support can help save one of the great literary sites in America. More than repairing a building, you can help revitalize a cultural treasure and make it everything it could be.
The Stevenson Society of America is a registered 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization: All donations are tax-deductible.
Donate at the link below or mail your donation to
The Stevenson Society of America
44 Stevenson Lane
Saranac Lake, NY 12983
Venmo: @rlscottagemuseum PayPal:
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