Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Fall Fun at Fort Ticonderoga

maze by moonlight provided by fort ticonderogaFort Ticonderoga has announced their annual Maze by Moonlight, and the living history event “Nothing Could Exceed the Spirit and Alertness,” set for October 25th and 26th, and October 26th and 27th.

The new 2019 corn maze design features clues connected to Fort Ticonderoga’s story. The maze is divided into two phases, giving guests the chance to gain confidence in the smaller maze before tackling the main maze. The average journey takes about twenty minutes for the first phase, and up to an hour for the second phase. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, October 20, 2019

Fort Ticonderoga Gets Grant To Restore Historic Walls

Fort Ticonderoga courtesy Carl Heilman IIFort Ticonderoga, a premiere historic and travel destination, has been awarded the Save America’s Treasures Grant, funded by the Historic Preservation Fund and administered by the National Park Service, Department of Interior through a competitive process.

The property was awarded $465,000 to be utilized in the restoration of the north demi-lune, a stone defensive structure connected to the fort. Originally constructed in the 18th century, the north demi-lune was used to defend Fort Ticonderoga against invaders and was part of the fort’s outer defenses that Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold saw as they crossed Lake Champlain on their journey to capture the fort in May of 1775 during the American Revolution. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, October 15, 2019

British Engineer Charles Terrot At Fort Ti, Valcour Island

original commission of Charles Terrot

Charles Terrot was a British officer who served with the British Army in Canada during the Revolutionary War, and left one of the best accounts of the Battle of Valcour Island.

Terrot was commissioned in 1774 as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Regiment of Artillery at the age of 16 after studying at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. He advanced with the British Army against the Americans in 1776. Fort Ticonderoga holds some of the letters Terrot sent back home, including one written following the battle, in which he includes a map of the pivotal engagement and drawings of the American ships.

» Continue Reading.


Monday, October 14, 2019

Lake Champlain Basin Cultural Heritage Project Grants

The Lake Champlain Basin Program has announced they are seeking pre-proposals for projects and programs to protect, restore, interpret, and showcase the historical resources and cultural heritage of the Champlain Valley.

These projects will highlight the interpretive themes and further the goals, actions and tasks described in the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership (CVNHP) Management Plan. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, October 13, 2019

The Club Camp on Big Moose Lake: A Short History

The Old Club Camp courtesy Roger and Nancy PrattThe Club Camp is often mentioned as the first permanent structure built on Big Moose Lake. The word permanent is rather ironic because this hunting and fishing establishment had a relatively short history of just 28 years. Today the camp’s origins, visitors, and sad end seem largely forgotten.

According to Joseph F. Grady’s The Adirondacks: Fulton Chain-Big Moose Region (1933), the Club Camp was constructed in 1878 at the request of several sportsmen from New York City who had been spending summers on the lake in previous years.

At the time, Big Moose, near Old Forge, NY, was difficult to reach — the railroad would not arrive in the area until 1892. Before 1878, only lean-tos or shanties were available on Big Moose, notably that of businessman William “Billy” Dutton, which was built in 1876, and that of guide Jack Sheppard which was set up around the same time. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, October 13, 2019

Lake Champlain Bridge History Seminar on Saturday

The Chimney Point State Historic Site in Addison, Vermont, and Crown Point State Historic Site in Crown Point, are set to team up to offer a day-long multi-disciplinary seminar on the 10th anniversary of the October 16, 2009, closing of the 1929 Lake Champlain Bridge, on Saturday, October 19th

The day will explore the findings, consequences, and memories of the historic moment of the bridge closure and aftermath. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, October 10, 2019

Applefest at Ironworks, Penfield Homestead on Sunday

Ironville Works MapThis weekend is the final seasonal celebration for the “birthplace of the electric age.” Located at the old Crown Point Iron Company Works in Ironville, the Penfield Homestead Museum is hosting its annual celebration of everything apple. Though apples may be one of the reasons to go to the Penfield Homestead, also plan to visit the museum dedicated to preserving the history of the North Country’s ironwork industry during the 19th century. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, October 10, 2019

Ham Radio Operators at Chimney Point on Sunday

chimney point state historic siteMembers of the Addison County Amateur Radio Association will set up at the Chimney Point State Historic Site in Addison, Vermont, on Sunday, October 13, from 10 am to 4 pm. Members will practice communication with other operators and take questions from the public. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Second World War and the Adirondacks Stories, Artifacts Sought

WW2 Uniform courtesy the Lanphear familyAdirondack Experience (ADKX), formerly the Adirondack Museum, is set to host a free open house event and community collecting day on November 11th, from 10 am to 4 pm, in support of the ADKX 2020 seasonal exhibition From Wilderness to Warfront: The Adirondacks and World War II.

This exhibition, planned to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, is devoted to the connections between Adirondack people and the global conflict. From regional industry and tourism to first-person accounts, the exhibition will explore diverse stories — those previously untold as well as those well-remembered — of regional mine workers, Mohawk code-talkers, Tuskegee airmen, and the countless local men and women who bravely served on the homefront or abroad during the world’s deadliest conflict. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Haunted History at the Hancock House

Adirondack Ghosts at Hancock House provided by Ticonderoga Historical SocietyThe Ticonderoga Historical Society is set to end its program year and celebrate the Halloween Season with a free program entitled “Haunted Adirondacks: A Horrible History” on Friday, October 18 at 7 pm at the Hancock House, 6 Moses Circle, Ticonderoga. » Continue Reading.


Saturday, October 5, 2019

Audio, Visual Preservation Workshop Set For Elizabethtown

Audio Visual Preservation WorkshopThe Adirondack History Museum in Elizabethtown has announced a Historians Day Workshop, set for October 16th, from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm.

Prof. Gerald Zahavi, historian and Director of the Documentary Studies Program at the University at Albany, will present a workshop on strategies for film, video and audio media preservation, restoration, and digital conversion and reformatting. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, October 3, 2019

Early American History Collections At Fort Ticonderoga

Erin Benz provided by fort ticonderogaFort Ticonderoga holds one of North America’s largest collections of military material culture, covering the colonization of North America and the ensuing colonial conflicts, the Seven Years’ War (a.k.a. French & Indian War), the American Revolution, and the War of 1812.

The collection includes rare books, manuscripts, weaponry, accoutrements, textiles, uniforms, headgear, paintings, prints, maps, ephemera, personal effects from across the Atlantic World and a complementary archeological collection consisting of tens of thousands of artifacts recovered from the grounds of Fort Ticonderoga in the 20th century. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Twitchell Lake Settlement and the Carthage to Crown Point Road

Map Showing Twitchell Creek in the 1870s provided by Adirondack AtlasEver wonder how one of the hundreds of lakes and ponds in the Adirondack Mountains got its name? Around Brown’s Tract, there are lakes named from nature such as Loon, Beaver, Trout, Gull, Bear, and Moose.  There are also a dozen or more lakes named for noted guides or people who lived in or frequented the area during the Sporting Era (1860 to 1890), including Mosier, Francis, Hitchcock, Beach, Tuttle, Thayer, Smith, Salmon, and Wood.

An Adirondack historian who knew some of the nineteenth century Beaver River and Fulton Chain guides, Joseph F. Grady, reported in his 1933 history of the Fulton Chain and Big Moose region that Twitchell Lake  “derives its name from Charles Twitchell, an amateur sportsman of Lewis County, who frequented its shores in the mid-century period [the mid-1800s].”

It turns out, that’s not true. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, October 2, 2019

History of the Beaver River Country’s Rap-Shaw Club Published

history of the rap shaw clubEdward I. Pitts’ new book The History of the Rap-Shaw Club: 1896 until 1958 tells the story of the early days of the Rap-Shaw Club, one of region’s surviving nineteenth century Adirondack outdoors clubs.

Founded in 1896, Rap-Shaw has continuously existed in the Beaver River country of the west central Adirondacks for what is believed to be longer than any other institution in that region. It has had rustic camps at Witchhopple Lake, Beaver Dam Pond, and since 1940 on Williams Island in the Stillwater Reservoir. It has outlived all the earliest settlements of the area, outlived Webb’s great camp Nehasane, and the passenger railroad that originally brought its members to the wilderness. Pitts offers an epic tale of adventure, wilderness recreation and the work required to build and maintain a voluntary organization during changing times. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Depot Theatre Works To Protect Its Historic Home

Depot Theatre in WestportThe Depot Theatre in Westport has been awarded a Preserve New York grant of $4,712 to complete a condition analysis of the 1876 train station in which the theatre resides.

The Depot Theatre is a nonprofit, professional theatre located in a historic, functioning 1876 train station owned by the Town of Westport, and it is the only theatre in New York’s Adirondack Park that operates under an agreement with Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. The theatre is also the caretaker of the station on behalf of Amtrak. » Continue Reading.



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