The Lily Dale Assembly has been recommended by the State Board for Historic Preservation to be added to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
The religious camp community is one of 21 properties recommended for the designation. Once recommendations are approved by the State Historic Preservation Officer, the properties are listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places and then nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, where they are reviewed and, once approved, entered on the National Register.
State and National Registers listing can assist owners in revitalizing properties, making them eligible for various public preservation programs and services, such as matching state grants and state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits.
Lily Dale Assembly was founded in 1879 on the shores of Cassadaga Lake. Now a 160-acre residential hamlet and home to 275 residents, it was created as a summer camp by practitioners of Spiritualism and includes a large woodland with buildings, sites, and structures meant to provide inspiration for quiet reflection, recreation, and spiritual practice.
It is the largest and oldest continuously operating Spiritualist camp in America and one of only four remaining Spiritualist camps in the nation.
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