Silver Bay Association Complex

The Silver Bay Association Complex, known as Silver Bay YMCA Conference and Family Retreat Center, has been in operation since 1902. The YMCA campus is located in the hamlet of Silver Bay, New York, United States.[1] It began as a farmhouse, and in the 1890s it was expanded and became a lodge capable of supporting 80 to 100 people.[2] In 1897, Silas Paine, a Standard Oil executive, vacationed at the resort and decided to buy a portion of land adjacent to the property. In 1898, Silas had a large resort addition linked to the original house, and between 1900 and 1901 he added several cottages to the complex. The structure was bought by the YMCA in 1904, and assumed its final, well-preserved form during expansions between 1925 and 1926 under the supervision of architect William E. Clark (1882–1935).[2] The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 20, 1980.[1] Architecturally, the Inn at Silver Bay is described as being in the Queen Anne style.[2]

Silver Bay Association Complex
Silver Bay Inn in 1930
LocationNY 9N, Silver Bay, New York, New York
Coordinates43°41′38″N 73°30′21″W
Built1904
ArchitectMultiple
Architectural styleQueen Anne, Adirondack style
NRHP reference No.80002785[1]
Added to NRHPMarch 20, 1980

NXIVM "V-Week"

In the first two decades of the 21st century, the resort was used by the Albany-based NXIVM self-help organization for its annual "V-Week" celebration of the August 26 birthday of founder Keith Raniere, known within the organization as "The Vanguard". The event, originally a day, grew to a weekend, the titular week and finally 11 days. It featured many artistic, recreational and educational activities for members, concluding with Raniere's birthday celebration, accompanied by staged tributes to him from NXIVM chapters all over the world. According to Mark Vicente, a former NXIVM executive who testified against Raniere at his 2019 criminal trial on racketeering and sex trafficking charges, while attendance was not mandatory for any member all members above the "coach" level were expected to attend, at their own expense of $1,400–3,500.[3]

Silver Bay's board of directors was informed in 2005 that there were concerns about NXIVM's cult-like indoctrination practices, and asked if they wanted to continue the relationship. Clare Bronfman, heiress to the Bronfman family fortune and a member of NXIVM's board, offered instead to rent out the entire resort for V-Week and have the resort closed to all visitors. This relationship continued as a series of three-year agreements, with Bronfman paying more each year.[4]

In the wake of behind-the-scenes pictures of V-Week taken by Silver Bay staff being published on the blog of Frank Parlato, a former NXIVM publicist turned critic, Bronfman persuaded management to forbid employees from even possessing their phones outside their on-campus residences at the 2016 V-Week. That event was also marked by a norovirus outbreak among most attendees outside NXIVM's upper management, including almost 50 children. Dr. Brandon Porter, the organization's physician, did not report the outbreak to the state Department of Health as required; in 2019 the state revoked his medical license for that and other charges related to unethical research he performed on various NXIVM participants.[5]

After disclosures about the existence of a secret group of women within NXIVM who were branded with Raniere's initials in order to serve him sexually, attendance at the 2017 V-Week diminished dramatically from previous years, and Silver Bay declined to renew the contract. By August 2018 many of the NXIVM principals, including Raniere, had been arrested and were in custody.[3]

Two 2020 cable docuseries about NXIVM have included footage of the V-Week events, much of it taken by Vicente and his crews during his NXIVM membership. HBO's The Vow, which focuses on Vicente, his wife Bonnie Piesse and actress Sarah Edmondson (one of the women branded) as they recount how they joined NXIVM, attained status within it and then worked to extricate themselves from it as they came to realize it was a cult dedicated to satisfying the desires of the narcissistic Raniere, incorporates Vicente's footage of V-Week participants enjoying their activities and the celebrations and speeches by Raniere and his chief lieutenant, Nancy Salzman. Some of that footage is also shown in episodes of Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult, which aired on Starz. India Oxenberg, daughter of actress Catherine Oxenberg, who attended every V-Week from 2011 onwards as a devoted member of NXIVM, revisits Silver Bay in the winter, which she says she felt extreme trepidation about as she had sworn to never return due to her difficult memories. Cult expert Janja Lalich describes how V-Week was the type of "high-arousal" event used by cults to both fatigue prospective members so they will be less resistant and bond them more tightly within the group.

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. Tolles, Bryant Franklin (2003). Resort hotels of the Adirondacks. pp. 46–51. ISBN 978-1-58465-096-6.
  3. Gavin, Robert (May 10, 2019). "NXIVM turned Lake George resort into annual Raniere birthday jamboree". Albany Times-Union. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  4. Claviger, K.R. (August 26, 2018). "Vanguard's Birthday Raises New Questions About The Silver Bay YMCA". Artvoice. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  5. Lyons, Brendan J. (August 22, 2019). "NXIVM doctor who conducted brain studies loses license". Albany Times-Union. Retrieved December 18, 2020.


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