Sunday, January 5, 2020

On Algonquin in Winter Bad Luck Can Be Fatal

Bad luck on the peak of Algonquin, the state’s second highest mountain, can be fatal in winter. On December 29th, 1979, a member of the Brooklyn College Outing Club took a fall just shy of the summit. Tremendous pain shot through the shoulder of 18-year-old Michael Boxer.

Thankfully his legs were unaffected, and he was able to walk for a time before rangers arrived, stabilizing the injury and carrying him out to minimize the pain and more safely navigate the terrain. The swelling was severe and upon arriving at the hospital, it was learned the shoulder was dislocated.

The rangers I spoke to for this article – 40 years after it happened – can’t remember many details from that rescue, but they do remember Michael Boxer by name and the search for him on the same mountain, 371 days later. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, January 5, 2020

Artist Anne Diggory Highlighting Warren Co Historical Event

Warren County Historical Society

The guest speaker at the Warren County Historical Society’s Annual Meeting will be Saratoga Springs artist Anne Diggory, who will give a new presentation, “Painting Warren County,” in which she will discuss the role of historic regional landscape artists in her own work.

Chartered in 1997, the Society offers a museum and exhibits, a resource library, collections and archives, historical programs, research and genealogy, publications, a quarterly newsletter, student internships, community history, and a book shop at its headquarters on 50 Gurney Lane in Queensbury.

» Continue Reading.


Sunday, January 5, 2020

Ticonderoga Historical Society Internship Opportunity

The Ticonderoga Historical Society has a position available for a graduate intern in public history, museum studies or a related field for the summer of 2020. The Society is housed within the Hancock House, a four-story historic house museum, open to the public.

The museum houses a collection of approximately 4,000 artifacts, 7,000 books and manuscripts, and other original materials relating to the history of the Lake Champlain Basin Region. In addition to its exhibit space, the Historical Society engages in an active plan of community outreach, programs and lectures. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, January 2, 2020

Gore Mountain’s Backwoods Ski Club Carries On

backwoods ski club logoNear the end of every ski season there’s a party at Gore Mountain sponsored by the Backwoods Ski Club for all of the workers and volunteers who make the season happen.  The Club provides a dinner buffet and beverages, and Club members mingle and merge with the lift operators, ski patrol members, ski instructors, snow makers, groomers, maintenance workers, concession and food service workers, office staff, and those who are constantly working to clean up the mess.

Club members, who have sponsored the party over the last 20 or 25 years, have come to call it “The Worker’s Party” and it’s reminiscent of the founding of the Club more than 50 years ago. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, January 2, 2020

A Full Moon Hike With John Brown Lives

full moon provided by champlain area trails John Brown Lives! (JBL!) is set to co-host a Full Moon Hike with Champlain Area Trails on the John Brown Trail at Viall’s Crossing Farm in Westport on Friday, January 10, 2020.

The farm has a unique connection to John Brown. Asa Viall, the son of the farm’s first owner, was a friend of the abolitionist, who led an unsuccessful raid on a Virginia armory in 1859. When Brown was executed for leading a rebellion to end slavery, Asa Viall provided and drove the wagon that took Brown’s body to its final resting place at his farm in North Elba, near Lake Placid. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, January 1, 2020

2020 Marks DEC’s 50th Anniversary

Nelson Rockefeller signing legislationThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) was established in 1970 on the first-ever Earth Day.

In the 50 years since, Adirondackers have seen a revolution in the way we interact with our environment. The Clean Air Act was passed in 1970; in 1971 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was established, followed by the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. The Adirondack Park Agency Act was passed in 1971, and the State’s Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) in 1980, the same year as the Superfund Law. In 1993 the Environmental Protection Fund was established.

» Continue Reading.


Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Frank Pardy’s Glass Plate Negatives of Clinton Co

Frank Pardy Studio by Frank PardyThe Clinton County Historical Association has announced The Frank Pardy Story with Alexandra Thomas, set for Thursday January 16, at 6:30 pm, at the Lake Forest Senior Community Center in Plattsburgh.

Rouses Point photographer and businessman Frank Pardy (1865-1935) left an extensive collection of glass plate negatives with the Clinton County Historical Association. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Get Into Winter On Snowshoes

Snowshoeing at 4H Camp Overlook in Mountain ViewWinter’s here. It’s the season of snowmen, snowballs, snow forts, snow sculptures, sledding, tobogganing, tubing, ice skating, ice fishing, ice climbing, downhill skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, dog sledding, snowmobiling, and snowshoeing.

I’ve heard it said, “If you can walk, you can snowshoe.” It’s fun, easy to learn, inexpensive when compared to most other winter sports, and poses little risk of injury. It’s a great group-activity, too; one that can open up a whole new world of winter recreation for your entire family. » Continue Reading.


Monday, December 30, 2019

A Mystery Writer’s Tramp to Twitchell’s Lake

Topographical Map of Lewis County On July 8, 1874, The Lowville Journal and Republican ran an article about a party of six men who trekked to Twitchell Lake in Big Moose, NY, for a nine-day stay. They came by horse and buggy up the Number Four Road through Watson Township from some town to the west.

After a brief stay at the Fenton House in the hamlet of Number Four and an overnight at Wardwell’s on Beaver River’s Stillwater, they crossed Twitchell Creek and tramped a mile south off the Carthage to Lake Champlain Road to Wood’s Lake: » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Dangerous Ideas from Christmas Past

amateur santa clause headlineAlmost 30 years ago, Dana Carvey’s character, “Grumpy Old Man,” was a popular recurring feature of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update.

He’d offer an assessment of current times compared to the so-called “good old days,” highlighting some barbaric practices of the past (exaggerated to great comedic effect) with the closing line, “And we liked it!”

I was reminded of that concept while perusing some shocking guidelines suggested in the early 1900s regarding the enjoyment of a safe Christmas season. Regional newspapers carried a list of suggestions for an enhanced experience … and I liked it! » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Holidays to Remember: Christmas, 1945

Among the finest Christmas seasons in America’s long history is the year 1945. We’re constantly bombarded with how special the holidays are, so it’s tough for any one year to stand out as extra special, but 1945 makes the list. Events across the Adirondacks that year epitomized the nation’s attitude. Surprisingly, it wasn’t all about celebrating, even though the most destructive war in history had just ended a few months earlier. We often mumble mindlessly that we’re proud to be Americans. But the first post-World War II Christmas was the real deal, worthy of the word “pride.”

To set the scene, consider the events that had transpired at that time. After being mired for a decade in the worst financial collapse in our history (the Great Depression), Americans had begun preparing for what seemed inevitable: joining the war in Europe. And then, between the Pearl Harbor attack and the war’s end four years later, hundreds of North Country boys and men were killed in action. Thousands more were injured or missing. » Continue Reading.


Monday, December 23, 2019

David Henderson: The Prince of Adirondac

Henderson MonumentIt was June and I was ensconced in the Adirondack Museum library, fortuitously avoiding an unusually muggy early summer afternoon.  I had gone there to do a little research for a work of historical fiction that I thought I might write.  By then my interest in Adirondack history was in full thrall, which made holding the document I had been presented by librarian Jerry Pepper something close to a religious experience.

It was an original letter, written in 1826, well preserved though the paper was a bit brittle and slightly darkened with age.  The script was beautiful; fluid and robust but not embellished or overly fussy.  The writing was sincere, filled with a youthful wonder and spirit of adventure but at the same time composed with a powerful energy and purpose.  Its tone was mellifluous, phrased but unforced, the work of a superb natural writer.  All in all it was – and is – a remarkable document, a singular account of a journey from the early written history of the Adirondacks. » Continue Reading.


Saturday, December 21, 2019

Vintage Adirondacks: Oval Wood Dish Products

adirondack wooden platesThe Oval Wood Dish Company was founded in 1883 in Delta, Ohio. Four years later, the company relocated to Mancelona, Michigan. There they manufactured wooden dishes, made of a single piece of wood, scooped out to form a bowl a sixteenth of an inch thick.

The bowls were disposable containers used by butchers as temporary containers for the ground beef and other meats purchased by customers. Eventually, the company replaced the wasteful method of scooping out the bowls with a wood veneer, cut and stapled to form a bowl. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, December 18, 2019

ADKX Announces 2020 Cabin Fever Sundays Series

tahawus mines provided by ADKXAdirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake (ADKX), has announced its 2020 Cabin Fever Sunday Series, set to begin on Sunday, January 12 at 1:30 pm. Programs are free for museum members and $5 for the general public.

Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. Programs are held in the ADKX Auditorium and are subject to change due to weather. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Full Moon Hike Planned for Viall’s Crossing Trail

full moon provided by champlain area trailsChamplain Area Trails (CATS) and John Brown Lives! (JBL!) are set to co-host a Full Moon Hike at the Viall’s Crossing Trail in Westport on Friday, January 10th, 2020.

Viall’s Crossing Farm has a unique connection to John Brown.  Asa Viall, the son of the farm’s first owner, was a friend of the abolitionist, who led an unsuccessful raid on a Virginia armory in 1859.

When Brown was executed for leading a rebellion to end slavery, Asa Viall provided and drove the wagon that took Brown’s body to its final resting place at his farm in North Elba, near Lake Placid. » Continue Reading.



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