Anne LaBastille built a 12-by-12-foot cabin deep in New York’s Adirondacks with no electricity, plumbing or road; she spent decades living in the wilderness and her 32-acre home is now protected forever

There was no electricity. No running water. No telephone. No road leading to the property. Deep in New York’s Adirondack wilderness, Anne LaBastille chose to build a life that most people would have considered impossibly difficult. In 1964, she built a tiny 12-by-12-foot log cabin on the shore of Twitchell Lake, creating a home where modern conveniences were almost entirely absent.LaBastille, a wildlife ecologist, writer and conservationist, spent much of her life in the Adirondacks, documenting the realities of living close to nature through her writing. Her experiences became the basis of her celebrated “Woodswoman” memoir series, beginning with the book “Woodswoman”, published in 1976. The series chronicled her life in the remote Adirondacks and her relationship with the wilderness. Today, the remote property she once called home has a different kind of legacy. Her 32-acre West of Wind property was donated to New York State after her death and became part of the Forest Preserve, ensuring that the wilderness she fought to protect would remain protected for future generations.

A home built far from modern life

The result was a tiny cabin that became both her home and the setting for one of the most remarkable chapters of her life.

LaBastille’s decision to live in the Adirondacks was not an attempt to escape for a weekend. It was a deliberate choice to strip life down to its essentials.Her cabin stood in a remote location accessible without a road. There were no power or telephone lines running to the property. Water had to come from the surrounding wilderness, while heat and cooking depended on traditional methods rather than household utilities.LaBastille wanted her home to fit into the landscape rather than destroy it. According to accounts of her life, she deliberately chose a site where she would not have to cut down large trees. She obtained spruce logs from a local lumberyard and had them transported to the edge of the lake because there was no conventional road to her property. The result was a tiny cabin that became both her home and the setting for one of the most remarkable chapters of her life.The isolation could be beautiful, but it could also be dangerous. Winter transformed the Adirondacks into a harsher world, with heavy snow, freezing temperatures and difficult travel. Even ordinary tasks such as getting supplies could become complicated when the lake froze or severe weather arrived. Yet LaBastille remained drawn to the solitude.

The woman behind ‘Woodswoman‘

LaBastille was far more than a person seeking an isolated life. She earned degrees from Cornell University and became a wildlife ecologist and conservationist. She conducted research on endangered wildlife, worked as an educator and became an important voice in the conservation of the Adirondacks. She was also among the pioneering women in fields where men greatly outnumbered women at the time. Her writing made her especially well known.“Woodswoman” transformed her personal experience of wilderness living into a story that resonated with readers beyond the Adirondacks. Her memoirs described not an idealised version of nature, but the daily realities of surviving and finding meaning in a remote landscape. She wrote about chopping wood, dealing with winter, travelling by boat and living without the conveniences that had become routine for most Americans.The cabin therefore became more than a building. It was a physical expression of LaBastille’s philosophy: that wilderness was something to experience, respect and preserve, rather than simply consume.

A legacy preserved forever

LaBastille died in 2011 at the age of 75. But her connection to the Adirondacks did not end with her death. In 2016, trustees of her estate donated the 32-acre West of Wind property on Twitchell Lake to New York State. The donation was made with the aim of protecting the ecological and historical character of the land. The state placed it within the Forest Preserve, giving the property permanent protection.Her wishes were remarkably clear. LaBastille had imagined the property remaining a place where people could experience the quiet and simplicity of wilderness. Her vision called for the land to retain its essential character rather than being transformed into a modern retreat.That makes the preservation of her property particularly significant. The 32 acres are not merely a memorial to a writer. They represent the landscape that shaped her work and her worldview.

Her story continues to inspire writers

Her 32-acre Adirondack home has been protected as part of the Forest Preserve

LaBastille’s influence is still being felt in the Adirondacks. Since 2014, the Adirondack Centre for Writing has hosted the Anne LaBastille Memorial Writers Residency at the historic Lodge on Twitchell Lake, near Big Moose, New York. Nearly 80 writers have participated in the residency, which gives selected writers two weeks to write, read and work surrounded by the landscape that inspired LaBastille.The year 2026 also marks the 50th anniversary of “Woodswoman”, keeping attention on the writer whose life became inseparable from the wilderness she chose as home. The Adirondack Experience is also marking the anniversary with programs exploring her life and work. A September 19, 2026 event will take visitors through archival material related to LaBastille before taking them to see her cabin in the museum’s “Life in the Adirondacks” exhibit.More than six decades after LaBastille first built her tiny cabin, the idea behind it remains striking.She chose a 12-by-12-foot home over a conventional house. She accepted darkness instead of electric lights, wilderness trails instead of roads and the uncertainty of the elements instead of modern convenience. And while the woman who once lived there is gone, the land remains. Her 32-acre Adirondack home has been protected as part of the Forest Preserve, ensuring that the quiet wilderness LaBastille valued will not simply disappear with her story.In an age when homes are getting larger and technology is increasingly woven into everyday life, Anne LaBastille’s tiny cabin represents something almost radical: a life deliberately made smaller so that the wilderness around it could remain vast.