Castorland, the land of beavers, is a vast tract on the Black River between Lowville and Carthage in Lewis County, New York. Two hundred years ago, nobility and clergy retreating from the French Revolution founded settlements in this area. Drawing on the Castorland Journal, a day-to-day account kept by Simon Desjardins and Pierre Pharoux, Edith Pilcher presents a wealth of facts about this unique community and its failed struggle to establish an American haven for French exiles.