Almanack Contributor Anthony F. Hall

Anthony F. Hall is the editor and publisher of the Lake George Mirror.

Anthony grew up in Warrensburg and after an education that included studying with beat poet Gregory Corso on an island in the Aegean, crewing a schooner in Hawaii, traveling through Greece and Turkey studying Byzantine art and archeology, and a stint at Lehman Brothers, he returned to the Adirondacks and took a job with legendary state senator Ron Stafford.

In 1998, Anthony and his wife Lisa acquired the Lake George Mirror, once part of a chain of weekly newspapers owned by his father Rob Hall.

Established in the 1880s, the Mirror is America’s oldest resort newspaper.



Saturday, February 1, 2020

Our Wilderness Has Answers To Questions Yet Unasked

Schaefer and LangmuirFifty years ago this August, Goveror Nelson Rockefeller’s Temporary Study Commission on the Future of the Adirondacks met at Eagle Nest, the great camp of its chairman, Harold Hochshild.

Members brought their spouses, and it seems as though the gathering was a long, country house weekend as much as it was an official meeting. There was horseback riding, water skiing and tours of the nearby Adirondack Museum, which Hochshild had created and which he subsidized until his death in 1981. And, no doubt, cocktails on the veranda at the violet hour.

Experts advising the Commission were invited to present talks on topics related to its work – protecting the Adirondacks from suburban sprawl, over-use and threats to the Forest Preserve. Among those experts was Vincent Schaefer. » Continue Reading.


Monday, November 18, 2019

Clean Water Regs Affect Some Marinas

Marinas on Lake George and Lake Placid (and on every other “AA-Special” waterbody in New York State) must start complying with national clean water regulations that require run-off from boat decontaminations, fluid changes and any other so-called industrial activities to be treated on site.

According to Bob Stegemann, regional director of the Department of Environmental Conservation, the federal government’s Clean Water regulations “do not allow for direct discharge of storm water to groundwater. It needs to be either eliminated or controlled or treated as point source pollution.” » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Brown’s Raid On Ticonderoga in Context

cannon aimed at Fort Ticonderoga from Mount Defiance provided by the Lake George MirrorDuring the French and Indian Wars, control of Lake George could determine control of the North American continent.

During the War of Independence, not so much. The lake was a relatively placid place as veterans who had won land grants for service during the war with France took up residence and began to cultivate the hillsides. Barges rather than bateaux passed down the lake, winning barely a glance from the grazing cattle. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Bolton Planning A Recreation Hub Strategy

Paddling at Amys Park With a few strategic land acquisitions, a new marketing and branding campaign and the support of businesses, local government and not-for-profit organizations, Bolton can become the recreation hub of the southeastern Adirondacks a new plan in the offing says.

A new document, “Bolton Recreation Hub Strategy,” prepared by the Chazen Companies for the Lake George Land Conservancy and the Town of Bolton, explains the benefits and costs of becoming a recreation hub, and how it can be done. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Lake George Rev War Remains: The 1st Pennsylvania At Fort George

archaeologists and assistants examine excavated soils at the siteThe remains dislodged from an 18th century military cemetery at a Lake George construction site will, in all likelihood, be reinterred on the grounds of Fort George Park, say Village officials.

The Village’s Board of Trustees has adopted a resolution calling upon New York State to permit the remains to be buried at the state-owned park, said Mayor Bob Blais.

Blais said New York State officials support the proposal, although the remains will be in the possession of state archaeologists for at least a year, undergoing examination and analyses. » Continue Reading.


Friday, April 6, 2018

‘Unusual but Effective Coalition’ Killed Forest Preserve Tax Changes

Assemblyman Dan Stec questions DEC commissioner about the proposed tax cap at a February 27 budget hearing in Albany. At left on the panel, Senator Betty Little.

A controversial proposal to replace state tax payments on Forest Preserve lands with negotiated “payments in lieu of taxes” was jettisoned in the final rounds of state budget talks.

“I am both relieved and grateful that the budget does not change New York’s current method of paying taxes on state-owned lands to localities,” State Senator Betty Little said on March 31, shortly after the budget was adopted. “It would have overturned a practice, now more than a century old and clearly defined in statute, unfairly costing the local taxpayers. Getting this out of the budget was a priority for me and I’m very pleased we’ve gotten the result so many wanted.”

The state’s payments to Adirondack towns, schools and special districts in the form of property taxes on Forest Preserve lands, which some have been estimated to be as high as $80 million a year, are therefore likely to continue, at least for the time being. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, March 25, 2018

Adirondacks and the Making of the Wild West

buffalo bill's best shotAmong the exhibitions worth visiting in our area this summer is one I’m especially interested in seeing: the Shelburne Museum’s “Playing Cowboy: America’s Wild West Shows,” an exploration of the manifold ways in which William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody and other Wild West characters influenced American popular culture well into the 20th century.

And not because I’m particularly or even remotely interested in the American west, wild or otherwise.

Rather, it’s because of the story’s links to the Adirondacks. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Experts: Ti’s New Health Campus Model For All

HHHN CEO Tucker Slingerland, MD with UVM Health CEO John Brumsted, MD.To see the future of health care in New York State, you may have to visit Ticonderoga – a town better known for its past.

“New York’s challenge is to bring financially sustainable, high quality healthcare to rural communities,” says Dan Sheppard, Deputy Commissioner in the state’s Department of Health. “The key lies in not just replacing old services but bringing into a community services it doesn’t already have and in improving over-all access to health care.” » Continue Reading.


Sunday, March 18, 2018

Boat Size Drives Lake George Marina Plan Opposition

The Winnish, owned by LeGrand Cramer, one of Lake George’s first Auto-BoatsThe Harris Bay Yacht Club is not getting any larger any time soon, so perhaps Lake George boats won’t either, or so opponents of the expansion plan hope.

Representatives of the Queensbury dock condominium complex withdrew their application for variances from the Lake George Park Commission’s rules at that agency’s monthly meeting, held February 27 at the Fort William Henry conference center. » Continue Reading.


Monday, March 12, 2018

LGLC Rejects State’s Bid for Anthony’s Nose

anthonys nose The Lake George Land Conservancy has rejected the Department of Environmental Conservation’s offer to purchase Anthony’s Nose for $325,000.

At a meeting of the Board of Directors, held in February, it was agreed that the Conservancy would maintain the Lake George icon as a preserve unless or until the state agency produces a better offer. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, February 25, 2018

Resistance: Ron Stafford’s Gift to Local Governments

Senator Ron Stafford with a former Town of Bolton Supervisor, Frank Leonbruno, in Bolton Landing, July 2001Having spent more than a decade as an aide to an upstate New York senator, the late Ron Stafford, I retain some residual habits, one of which is flipping through the Governor’s budget proposals as soon as they’re released, alert, I would hope, to anything that might have an impact on our region, positive or negative.

That’s how I happened to become aware of a proposal in this year’s budget to remove Forest Preserve lands from the real property tax standard and authorize New York State to send Adirondack communities “payments in lieu of taxes.”

I gave it more than a cursory glance because in 1989, when I worked for Senator Stafford, the current governor’s father, Mario Cuomo, proposed something very similar. » Continue Reading.


Monday, February 5, 2018

Lake George Plan: Halve Road Salt Use By 2020

The road over Tongue Mountain 50 years ago“Salt Reduction by 50% by 2020” – among local governments, highway superintendents and environmental protection groups on Lake George, that’s the buzz phrase of the season.

“30,000 metric tons of salt are deposited every year within the Lake George basin,” said Eric Siy, the executive director of The Fund for Lake George. “But we know we can reduce its use. We can apply salt smarter and make our roads safer.” » Continue Reading.


Friday, February 2, 2018

Budget Proposal Challenges NYS Tax Payments On Forest Preserve Lands

adk atlas state landsA barely-noticed provision in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed budget could have lasting consequences for the finances of Adirondack towns and school districts, or so some fear.

“I believe local governments will see this proposal as the cap on payments to their jurisdictions, something they have long feared as the state continues to acquire private land in the Adirondacks,” says Fred Monroe, the executive director of the Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board. » Continue Reading.


Saturday, January 20, 2018

Stoddard As Art Photographer

stoddard photography“Water and Light,” a selection of images from Seneca Ray Stoddard’s Lake George portfolio exhibited at the Chapman Historical Museum last summer, has been reimagined as a new, ground-breaking book on Stoddard’s photography.

The 160-page volume, featuring 150 images selected and reproduced by Chapman director Tim Weidner, includes interpretive and biographical essays by Joseph Cutshall-King, the historian who led the Chapman when the Museum acquired its Stoddard collection from Maitland De Sormo in 1977. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Rail Or Trail: Warren County Weighs Options

The North Creek Station when D&H still operated the railroadThe time may have come for Warren County to retire from the railroad business, says Ron Conover, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors.

In his annual message to the board, Conover broached the possibility of replacing the rail line between Stony Creek and North River, which the County owns and currently leases to Iowa-Pacific’s tourist train, with a multi-use recreational trail.

“I think the prudent thing at this stage is to begin to investigate whether a recreational trail should be created, by whom, at what cost, for which users; we should also ask how to pay for its creation and maintenance,” Conover said in his message, delivered at the municipal center on January 4. » Continue Reading.



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