Tag Archive for "Keene" - The Adirondack Almanack

KEENE— Named for one of the Adirondack Garden Club’s most outstanding members, the Ellen Lea Paine Memorial Nature Fund was established in 2005 to give financial assistance to individuals and not-for-profit organizations involved in programs whose purpose is to study, protect and enjoy the natural environment within the Adirondack Park. Mrs. Paine, who passed away in 2005, was an avid gardener who took great pride in the gardens of her family properties.

This year, the Ellen Lea Paine Memorial Nature Fund awarded eight grants ranging up to $1,500.

Thursday, July 21, 2022

Keene Valley Library to host July 23 celebration for Adirondack Community story project’s success

KEENE VALLEY, N.Y.— Town of Keene residents and guests will gather at the Keene Valley Library from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 23 to celebrate the over 250 stories available through “Adirondack Community: Capturing, Retaining, and Communicating the Stories of Who We Are,” an OurStoryBridge project. All are welcome.

Adirondack Community, sponsored by the Keene Valley Library, is a multi-year local history project that collects and organizes 3- to 5-minute audio stories and related photographs from town of Keene community members through an online platform to share the rich social and cultural history of this community located in New York State’s Adirondack Mountains. Stories are used in classrooms from elementary school through college. In a town of about 1,100 residents, six times that number of users have visited the website to listen to stories. Adirondack Community is the model used by the national story project charitable nonprofit, OurStoryBridge Inc.

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Beyond Books: Libraries Lend Binoculars to Beginner Birders

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KEENE VALLEY & SARANAC LAKE, NY — Are you interested in bird watching, but don’t know where to begin? Starting this summer, the Keene Valley Public Library and Saranac Lake Free Library are loaning backpacks stocked with binoculars and field guides to give people an opportunity to try out birding.

The backpacks are part of the Adirondack Land Trust’s “Adirondack Birding for All” program, which is working with the libraries to increase awareness and appreciation of Adirondack birds and their habitats.

Thursday, July 7, 2022

Adirondack Route 73 Shuttle Season Starts July 9 in High Peaks

by NYS DEC

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On Tuesday, July 5, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Essex County, town of Keene, and Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST) announced the Route 73 shuttle system launched in 2021 will return on Saturday, July 9. The shuttle system helps manage safe, sustainable visitation along the busy Route 73 corridor in the Adirondack High Peaks region. The free shuttle system will operate on weekends and holidays through Monday, Oct. 10, 2022. New this year, additional runs on select weekends in August and October will be piloted from Frontier Town Gateway in North Hudson.

“The Route 73 hiker shuttle provides a valuable resource to visitors of the High Peaks region, allowing safe access to preferred trails while helping to mitigate public safety and environmental concerns related to crowded roadside parking,” said DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos. “This shuttle system is another excellent example of visitor use management actions that benefit visitors, local communities, and our natural resources. I appreciate our partners in the town of Keene, Essex County, and ROOST who worked with us to develop and implement the service again this year.”

Thursday, June 2, 2022

Keene Arts begins June Concert Series with Trillium Chamber Players

Join Adirondack favorites the Trillium Chamber Players Sunday, June 5^th at Keene Arts at 4:00 PM for a delightful afternoon of classical music for voice, viola and piano. Violist Patricia McCarty, pianist Timothy Mount and soprano Amy Nelson will perform works ranging from Bach to Gershwin, including Brahms’ much beloved songs Longing at Rest and Cradle Song of the Virgin, Ferenc Farkas’ lively Rumanian Dances, and the lush, exotic songs of early 20th century American composer Charles Martin Loeffler, set to poems by Verlaine and Baudelaire.

Sunday, May 1, 2022

Work underway to replace Route 73 roadside barriers

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Concrete Barricades to be Replaced with New Railing to Allow For Unimpeded Views; Segments of Route 73 to Be Resurfaced

New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez announced that work is underway on a $8.3 million project to replace concrete barriers and portions of guiderail along three segments of State Route 73 in the towns of Keene and North Elba, Essex County, with new railing that will allow travelers to better enjoy the scenic views while maintaining safety. The project includes a stretch of Route 73 along Upper and Lower Cascade Lakes that is part of the annual Lake Placid Ironman course. Work will be completed by late fall, ahead of the Lake Placid 2023 International University Sports Federation (FISU) World University Games coming this January.

Monday, March 28, 2022

Telling Our Stories: The Adirondack Story Project

by Lorraine Duvall

We are blessed to have quality news outlets in the Adirondacks – local newspapers and magazines, social media, and including, of course, the Adirondack Almanack and Explorer. These resources are place-based and provide us with the current news and events. They also serve as archival records for future generations.

Since 2014, I’ve shared a number of my stories on the Adirondack Almanack. There are more avenues for telling one’s stories now, eight years later, primarily through the perfection of online resources because of the Covid-19 pandemic and our resultant isolation.

I want to introduce readers of the Almanack to a project for recording audio stories which began a few years ago through the Keene Valley Library. To date, this Adirondack Community Story Project has collected over 250 three-to-five-minute audio stories on the historical and social cultural history of the Town of Keene.

Monday, March 7, 2022

Scarlet fever: Keene’s struggles to contain an outbreak harkens to today

by Peter Slocum

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Scarlet fever is something we don’t have to think about any more. However, more than 100 years ago, this childhood killer struck fear into the hearts of parents everywhere, including the little town of Keene.

On March 4, 1912, in the face of a frightening scarlet fever outbreak, the Keene Town Board of Health took emergency action. The Board ordered “that the church, school houses, library, neighborhood house and Keene Valley Club House shall be closed until further notice.”

Today, in the midst of our Covid-19 turmoil, the disputes over vaccines, masks, and other government-scientific recommendations, it is hard to imagine a citizen board of health exercising that kind of power—to declare the church and the schools and the library closed. Boom. “Mo(tion) carried,” says the official one-page document, hand-written in pencil.

Friday, July 2, 2021

Shuttle Drivers & Front Country Stewards Wanted

by NYS DEC

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DEC, Essex County, and the Town of Keene are working together to implement a shuttle pilot system this summer that will explore how shuttles may help manage sustainable visitation along the Route 73 corridor and in the High Peaks.

Some important details remain, including hiring necessary and properly certified shuttle operators and trail stewards, as well as finalizing route information, but we are continuing to collaborate and reach out to our partners to help make the shuttle successful. Qualified individuals interested in the hiring opportunities available can contact the Town of Keene, and additional information will be made available as the shuttle system details are finalized.

Saturday, June 19, 2021

DEC, Essex County announce pilot shuttle program for Keene

by NYS DEC

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DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos, Essex County Board of Supervisors Chair Shaun Gillilland, and Keene Town Supervisor Joe Pete Wilson have issued the following joint statement:

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Essex County, and the Town of Keene are working together to implement a shuttle pilot system this summer that will explore how shuttles may help manage sustainable visitation along the Route 73 corridor and in the High Peaks. Using the recently completed Volpe study to help guide our planning efforts, we are closely collaborating to develop an effective, safe, and enjoyable system that benefits High Peaks communities and visitors. Some important details remain, including hiring necessary and properly certified shuttle operators and trail stewards, as well as finalizing route information, but we are continuing to collaborate and reach out to our partners to help make the shuttle successful. Qualified individuals interested in the hiring opportunities available can contact the Town of Keene, and additional information will be made available as the shuttle system details are finalized.

Thursday, August 6, 2020

Three-Day Closure of Portion of Route 73 in Keene this week

Updated 8/6: The work has been postponed to next week (Aug 11-13)

The New York State Department of Transportation is advising motorists that a half-mile segment of Route 73 in the town of Keene, Essex County, between Route 9N and the southern end of Hulls Falls Road (County Route 13A) will be closed between Tuesday and Thursday as part of a project to replace a culvert underneath the road.

During the three-day closure, motorists heading northbound wishing to reach Keene will be detoured to Route 9 north to Elizabethtown. Motorists should then take Route 9N to reach Route 73 in Keene. Motorists coming southbound from Keene will be detoured on Route 9N toward Elizabethtown and then to Route 9 south to reach Route 73.

Preliminary work is scheduled to begin Monday, Aug. 3, and the entire project is expected to be completed by Aug. 14. Apart from the three-day full closure, motorists should watch for periodic lane and shoulder closures with flaggers on this stretch of Route 73.

For up-to-date travel information, call 511, visit www.511NY.org or download the free 511NY mobile app.

Image courtesy of Google Maps

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Local history project marks 160 audio stories

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Adirondack storytellers have recorded 160 first-person accounts about life in the Town of Keene, yesterday and today, and there are opportunities for all to participate in this Keene Valley Library project, even while staying home.

Adirondack Community: Capturing, Retaining, and Communicating the Stories of Who We Are, is a multi-year local history project that collects and organizes three to five minute audio stories and related photographs from Town of Keene community members through an online platform to share the rich social and cultural history of this community located in New York State’s Adirondack Mountains.

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Keene Limits Parking to Combat COVID-19

The Town of Keene is prohibiting spill-over hiking parking, in order to reduce health risks during the governor’s “New York State on PAUSE” directive. Access to the Garden, a jumping off point for all major trails into John’s Brook Valley and the Great Range, will remain open to local hikers and visitors, but once the 46-car lot is full, no more parking will be allowed. There will be signs and barricades to mark where it has been made illegal to park and violators of the new restrictions will have their vehicles towed.