Monday, August 20, 2018

Adirondack Historic Roadside Marker Grants Available

pomeroy foundationThe William G. Pomeroy Foundation has announced they are now accepting 2018 applications for fully funded Historic Roadside Markers to commemorate the history of the Adirondacks, including locations in Essex, Warren, Hamilton, Saratoga, Washington, Clinton and Franklin Counties.

Municipalities and charitable 501(c)(3) organizations in New York State are welcome to apply for the Historic Roadside Marker Grants. Local historical organizations or municipal historians will often apply for the grant on behalf of property owners.

» Continue Reading.


Monday, August 20, 2018

Champlain Valley Cultural Heritage Grants Available

The Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership (Champlain Heritage) is seeking proposals for projects to protect, restore, interpret, and showcase the historical resources and cultural heritage of the Champlain Valley.

Champlain Heritage anticipates awarding over $100,000 across four grant categories: » Continue Reading.


Friday, August 17, 2018

AARCH Homesteading Tour Embraces Modern Builders

For the first time, Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH) is hosting a modern homesteading tour, according to Deputy Director Virgina Siskavich.

“We want to continue to embrace modern builders,” says Siskavich. “We feel that at some point these modern buildings will be a part of history and we want to remember them. We also want to continue to offer tours that have not been offered before.”

Additional AARCH tours are scheduled from May to October at a range of historic and modern locations. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, August 16, 2018

Space Force History and the Plattsburgh Air Base

Whether you see a stable genius or a bumbling buffoon in the White House (there seems to be no middle ground), no one should credit him as a visionary for the idea of adding the Space Force as our nation’s fourth military branch. Security and defense officials discussed the idea openly in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. In fact, if a special committee and a certain famous senator had their way, the Space Force might well have had a base right here in the North Country.

After a February 1958 interview with author and scientist Willey Ley, the Canton (Ohio) Repository wrote: “He mentioned the separate service, or ‘U.S. Space Force’ idea proposed by Mr. [Werner] Von Braun, who feels that such a service could better obtain the cooperation required from the present army, navy, and air force.” Von Braun was referring to the intense competition among the branches to develop long-range missiles and take the technological lead in a future of rocket launches and space missions. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, August 14, 2018

20 Years After Canoe-In for Wilderness at Little Tupper Lake

Motorless lakes protest courtesy Nancie BattagliaWednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the Canoe-In for Wilderness on Little Tupper Lake. On August 15, 1998, over 300 people in over 200 canoes, kayaks, guide-boats, rowboats, and one small sailboat, rallied on the sloping lawns of the Whitney Headquarters on the shore of Little Tupper Lake and then paddled out onto the lake in a massive flotilla in the Canoe-In for Wilderness at Little Tupper Lake.

This event was the biggest environmental rally in a very challenging and divisive time in Adirondack Park history. Those who gathered that day were unabashed in their support for a Wilderness classification for the newly purchased Little Tupper Lake. A number of important motorless waters were created in the years after the Canoe-In for Wilderness. In 1998, there had not been a major piece of land classified as Wilderness since the late 1980s when the Blue Ridge and West Canada Lake Wilderness Areas were expanded around Cedar River Flow. » Continue Reading.


Sunday, August 12, 2018

Ti History Presenting ‘The Other Milhollands’

Vida MilhollandThe Ticonderoga Historical Society is set to present a free program entitled “The Other Milhollands” on Friday, August 17 at 7 pm at the Hancock House, 6 Moses Circle, Ticonderoga.

This program will focus on the lives of Inez’ father John and sister Vida.

John E. Milholland, born in 1860, was a journalist, politician, inventor and publisher, who helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was an owner of the Ticonderoga Sentinel newspaper and a key progressive figure of the early 1900s. » Continue Reading.


Friday, August 10, 2018

Rev War Ethnic Diversity Talk at Mt Independence

mount independenceOn Sunday, August 12, 2018, at 2 pm, the Mount Independence State Historic Site in Orwell, Vermont, is set to host a talk on “Ethnic and Cultural Diversity at Mount Independence” by historian and site interpreter Paul Andriscin.

This talk looks at how a rag-tag force from six states and Vermont managed to maintain the Northern American Army here during the American Revolution. They faced lack of supplies, disease, starvation, bad weather conditions, and having to overcome prejudices against their fellow soldiers. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, August 9, 2018

A Partnership For Wilderness, 1946-2018

In July 1946, Howard and Alice Zahniser drove with their children to the Adirondacks for the first time. Howard had started work as the first executive of The Wilderness Society in Washington D.C. the year prior. Howard would begin drafting the federal Wilderness Act of 1964 (66 drafts in all) from a cabin he acquired in the Adirondacks.

Howard kept a journal of his first trip to the Adirondack Park.  The rest of us know about it thanks to his son Ed Zahniser’s small book, Where Wilderness Preservation Began – Adirondack Writings of Howard Zahniser (Ed Zahniser, Editor., North Country Books, 1992). For 72 years the extended Zahniser family, now including the fourth generation, has returned to the same place in the Adirondacks. This August I held a cook-out to welcome them back. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Ruth Williams: A World War One Nurse Overseas

The word hero is often tossed around loosely, but when it comes to wounded soldiers, no one argues that it’s fitting — so what does it say about someone else when wounded soldiers call them heroes? Consider American women during World War I. Although many wanted to, they didn’t have to serve because of their sex, and could support the troops by important actions at home. But some chose to place themselves near the front lines, and with no weapons to defend themselves. Their only protection came from nebulous agreements by both sides not to bomb hospitals and care centers.

That’s what nurses did, risking their lives to comfort, save the lives of, or ease the deaths of, soldiers. Which explains why so many wounded men referred to nurses as the real heroes. A fine example of that circumstance, with an unusual twist or two, involved Ruth Williams of Ogdensburg. » Continue Reading.


Monday, August 6, 2018

Adk History Museum’s Hiking Exhibit Features 46ers

Hiking the Adirondack High Peaks exhibitThe Adirondack History Museum celebrated the grand opening of its “Hiking the Adirondack High Peaks” exhibit on July 20 with over 130 people attending a ribbon cutting and reception.

Museum staff and volunteers spent over 1,000 hours developing the exhibit. The interactive permanent display explores High Peak’s hiking history dating back to the mid-19th century. The exhibit highlights the work of the Adirondack Forty-Sixers, hiking pioneers, old time guides, and other historic and contemporary figures, such as Adirondack 46ers historian and founding member Grace Hudowalski. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, August 1, 2018

The Ketchup Murder Case

In late July 1934, the average life of Watertown’s Vincent Sparacino took a sudden, drastic turn, becoming anything but humdrum. Vincent was an Italian immigrant who came to America in 1906 when he was 16 years old. The family settled in Watertown and operated Sparacino & Company, a fruit wholesaler that later branched out into vegetables. By the late 1920s Vincent and his brother Tony were partners in the business with other family members. Vince was a hands-on guy, frequently driving a delivery truck to customer sites around the city.

On many days after finishing work and taking supper, he drove to a nearby grocery store, parked outside, sat in the front passenger seat, and played the car radio. His good friend of many years, Patsy Carbone, ran the store, and whenever there was free time, Patsy came out to visit. » Continue Reading.


Wednesday, August 1, 2018

NNY American Canadian Genealogy Conference

NNYACGS conferenceThe Northern New York American Canadian Genealogical Society (NNYACGS) Conference will be held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 28, 29 and 30, 2018, at the Dannemora Civic Center for three days of genealogical talks and research.

On Friday and Sunday, the genealogical library will be open from 10 am to 4 pm for free research. Saturday, the 29th is reserved for a talk on DNA testing, and an afternoon French-Canadian music session. » Continue Reading.


Monday, July 30, 2018

ADKX Adds Exhibit On Adirondack Segregation

Fulton Fryar in The Closet prior to its removal from Seagle Music ColonyAdirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, has announced a new acquisition on view in its Life in the Adirondacks exhibition: a cramped, dilapidated shack, known as “The Closet” that for two summers was home to a young and talented African-American tenor, Fulton Fryar.

Through the combined efforts of Adirondack Architectural Heritage, the Seagle Music Colony, and Adirondack Experience, this historic artifact was saved from demolition and will help educate museum visitors about the history of racial discrimination in the Adirondack Park. » Continue Reading.


Saturday, July 21, 2018

Richard Gast: Scream for Ice Cream

cornell dairy ice creamYou know it’s hot outside when you stop by a friend’s home on the 4th of July, he’s got a growler of Township 7 Raspberry Haze ale and a half-gallon of Stewart’s butter pecan ice-cream on the kitchen counter, and he’s making himself a craft-beer float. “Try one!” he said. Let’s just say it’s an acquired taste.

But it made me think that something similar may have been the inspiration for Butterbeer, the brisk, inebriating beverage enjoyed by the characters in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels. So, I asked him what the inspiration for his craft-beer float was and he just looked me like it was a dumb question. “It’s hot,” he answered. Then he told me that July is National Ice Cream Month. And since it was Independence Day, it was our “patriotic duty” to drink those craft-beer floats. » Continue Reading.


Thursday, July 19, 2018

Great Camp Eagle Island Celebration Planned

Eagle Island, Inc. is sponsoring a celebration of Great Camp Eagle Island on Wednesday, August 15, at 7 pm at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake. The event will feature award-winning Adirondack folk singer Dan Berggren.

Eagle Island was designed in 1903 by Adirondack architect William Coulter for Levi P. Morton, the former U.S. Vice President and former Governor of New York. In 1910 the camp was sold to Henry Graves Jr. who donated this Great Camp to the Girl Scout Council of the Oranges, New Jersey in 1937. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 2003, it was operated as a summer Girl Scout Camp for 70 years thru 2008; in 2010 the Girl Scouts put Eagle Island up for sale. » Continue Reading.



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The Adirondack Almanack's contributors include veteran local writers, historians, naturalists, and outdoor enthusiasts from around the Adirondack region. The Almanack is the online news journal of Adirondack Explorer. Both are nonprofits supported by contributors, readers, and advertisers, and devoted to exploring, protecting, and unifying the Adirondack Park.
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