On Saturday, September 9 at 2 p.m., the John Brown Farm State Historic Site will present a living history performance based on the life of Harriet Tubman. This program offers a close look into the life and achievements of Harriet Tubman (known also as General Moses), whose life was a monument to courage and determination that continues to stand out in American history. This event is free and open to the public, and will take place outdoors under the tent in the picnic area.
All are invited to explore the celestial heavens on a clear, moonless night in the north field of the John Brown Farm State Historic Site as part of a stargazing event scheduled for Saturday, February 18 at 7 p.m. A telescope will be available, but participants are welcome to bring their own telescopes or binoculars. This will be an outdoor program that will be held in the north field adjacent to the north field parking lot near the park entrance. In the case of inclement weather, Sunday, February 19 will be the rain date. This event is free and open to the public.
The John Brown Farm is located at 115 John Brown Road, a half mile north of State Route 73, in North Elba (2 miles east of the village of Lake Placid.)
For further information, contact the park office at (518) 527-0191 or email brendan.mills@parks.ny.gov.
State Parks oversees more than 250 parks, historic sites, recreational trails, golf courses, boat launches and more, which were visited by a record 74 million people last year. For more information
on any of these recreation areas, call (518) 474-0456 or visit www.parks.ny.gov, connect with them on Facebook, or follow them on Instagram and Twitter.
Photo at top: Night sky, stars over Heart Lake. Photo by Brendan Wiltse. Almanack archive photo, 2014.
All are welcome to enjoy moonlight snowshoe walks at the John Brown Farm Historic Site tomorrow, Sunday, February 5 beginning at 8 p.m. Participants of this moonlight snowshoe party will have the opportunity to walk the fields and forests of the John Brown trails under the light of the full moon. Folks are asked to bring their own showshoes and poles. This event is free and open to the public.
The John Brown Farm is located at 115 John Brown Road, a half mile north of State Route 73, in North Elba (2 miles east of the village of Lake Placid.) This event is sponsored by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Saratoga/Capital District – 19 Roosevelt Drive, Saratoga Springs, New York 12866.
For further information, contact the park office at (518) 523-3900 or email Brendan.mills@parks.ny.gov.
Photo at top: Snowshoes. Richard Monroe photo, Adirondack Almanack archive photo.
KEENE — The merger of two nationally accredited land trusts streamlines operations and ensures continued open space protection in New York’s Adirondack Park.
Effective January 1, 2023, the Lake Placid Land Conservancy (LPLC) will merge into the Adirondack Land Trust as approved by the New York State Attorney General’s office and the Secretary of State. The assets, programs and land stewardship responsibilities of LPLC will be transferred to the Adirondack Land Trust.
Through the merger, 472 acres in the towns of North Elba, Jay, Keene and Wilmington will be added to the Adirondack Land Trust’s portfolio of land protection sites. This includes the Three Sisters Preserve in Wilmington, which is a popular destination for mountain biking, trail running, hiking and snowshoeing, and serves as a community connector between the town’s bike skills park and Forest Preserve trails adjacent to Hardy Road. Public access will remain the same and preserve signage will be updated.
LAKE PLACID, NY – The Town of North Elba is awarding more than $600,000 to several local organizations through its North Elba Local Enhancement and Advancement Fund (LEAF).
Projects that will receive LEAF funding were submitted by the following organizations: Adirondack Film Society, Adirondack Rail Trail Association, Adirondack Sports Council, Essex County Industrial Development Agency, Homestead Development Corp., John Brown Lives!, LPSA, Inc., Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute, Saranac Lake Civic Center, Inc., and the Town of North Elba.
LEAF grants are available to nonprofits, local governments and public sector organizations within the Town of North Elba. This is the fourth round of grants made available to local organizations since the program’s inception in 2020.
Lake Placid, NY —Professional and volunteer trail crews organized by ADK (Adirondack Mountain Club) are returning to Mt Jo this summer to continue building a new sustainable trail to the summit.
Serving over 15,000 hikers a year, Mt. Jo is an iconic mountain in North Elba that is often visited by first-time outdoor recreators and used as a classroom for ADK’s fourth grade school outreach program. After assessment, it was determined in 2020 that one of the two approaches to the summit—the Long Trail—had exceeded standards for sustainability and safety.
In response, ADK determined a new route, rallied support from donors and volunteers, and broke ground on the trail in 2021. Last November, the Town of North Elba backed the project by awarding ADK a $50,000 grant from the Local Enhancement & Advancement Fund (LEAF) to improve accessibility on the trail.
The Town of North Elba, the Village of Lake Placid and the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST) have collaborated to develop a destination management plan. This plan will guide efforts of local government, tourism organizations, environmental agencies, economic development initiatives, community organizations, residents and other organizations within the area. Its purpose is to establish regional priorities and guide efforts to balance community, resident and business needs, while enhancing the visitor experience.
Local leaders will be meeting this week to begin discussions regarding implementation of the plan. “This plan offers a guide,” says Derek Doty, Town of North Elba supervisor. “It ensures that North Elba, Lake Placid, and organizations within the area understand and support an overall, long-term plan for the region. The destination management plan helps each entity make its plans in a very deliberate manner based on the agreed upon vision.”
This year’s Lake Placid Film Festival (LPFF) is a mixture of adventure and nostalgia as it enters its second year in its autumn time slot.
In 2018, the Adirondack Film Society made the decision to move the film festival from June to October to be able to draw from a larger pool of festival entries. Now it has extended to a five-day format (October 23-27) with extra benefits for the viewing public. » Continue Reading.
Something’s not right when the APA stops writing about open space protection in permits for Resource Management and Rural Use lands – precisely where the State Legislature places great emphasis on open space and resource protection.
The latest example is the draft permit now on the APA website authorizing 15 new residences on 590 acres in Resource Management overlooking the High Peaks, to be accessed off Route 73 near Adirondack Loj Road in North Elba. This subdivision (Barile, Project No. 2016-0114) is up for a vote by the APA Thursday.
In the draft permit for Barile’s North Elba subdivision, project impacts and some mitigation to limit impacts of the 15 new homes, driveways, and accessory buildings are listed for a lot of resources, including Visual, Wetlands, Habitat, Soils, Surface Waters, Groundwater, Invasive Species, Vegetation, Infrastructure, Historic Sites or Structures, and Nearby Land Uses.
But not open space protection. » Continue Reading.
The Adirondack Park Agency (APA) will hold a series of public hearings to solicit public comments for State Land classification and reclassification proposals.
The action involves proposals for State Lands in all 12 counties in the Park, including the recently acquired Boreas Ponds Tract.
The 2016-2017 classification package includes 33 State Land classification proposals totaling approximately 50,827 acres, 13 State Land reclassifications totaling an estimated 1,642 acres, and a number of classifications involving map corrections (1,949 acres). » Continue Reading.
Last weekend, the Saratoga Historical Society in California celebrated the 200th birthday of Mary Ann Day Brown, wife of radical abolitionist John Brown. The milestone was observed a few weeks prior to her actual birthday (April 15) to coincide with the Blossom Festival…. but, wait. Doesn’t John Brown’s body lie a moldering in his grave in New York State? Yes, it does, in the Adirondacks near Lake Placid. The grave of his second wife Mary however, is at the other end of the country, in Saratoga, California’s Madronia Cemetery.
It is all rather ironic since the life of Mary Ann Day started 200 years ago on April 15, 1816, in Granville in Washington County. Mary was a quite ordinary woman of the 1800s: quiet, modest, godly, and usually poor. Scores of thousands such lives pass unnoticed; history tends to remember women of wealth, beauty or offbeat wackiness if it recalls their existence at all. » Continue Reading.
The state attorney general is seeking dismissal of a lawsuit brought against the state Department of Environmental Conservation in a long-running feud over the status of Old Mountain Road in the towns of North Elba and Keene.
The state is also seeking to transfer the case from State Supreme Court in Essex County to the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court in Albany.
The Old Mountain Road is a dirt thoroughfare, often flooded by beavers, that runs through the Sentinel Range Wilderness. It is part of the Jackrabbit Ski Trail, which stretches from Keene to Saranac Lake. » Continue Reading.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents in the Adirondacks. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people from the Adirondack backcountry.
What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of a recent mission carried out by Forest Rangers in the Adirondacks. » Continue Reading.
Thirteen years after he was first ticketed for driving a snowmobile on Old Mountain Road, Jim McCulley is still fighting the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
In his latest legal action, McCulley claims DEC Commissioner Joseph Martens violated his civil rights when Martens overturned earlier decisions in the case and ruled that Old Mountain Road is part of the Forest Preserve, not a town road.
“It’s like beating your head against the wall, over and over. Why do they keep coming back?” said Lake Placid attorney Matt Norfolk, who represents McCulley.
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Tales of the Adirondacks, Past & Present: The Beginning of the Lake Placid Center for the Arts (LPCA) by John Huttlinger, Jr.
Our next OurStoryBridge story share is titled, “In The Beginning of the Lake Placid Center for the Arts (LPCA)” by John Huttlinger, Jr. Huttlinger, Jr. from North Elba Narratives in Lake Placid, shares the illuminating story of the creation of the LPCA in the 1970’s, including his personal connection to the project as well as how the arts center has become a beloved and welcome addition to the community.
Listen to In The Beginning of the Lake Placid Center for the Arts (LPCA) in its entirety at the following link: https://app.memria.org/stories/public-story-view/56e1f99c22d74eacaf87f531455ce5d1/
» Continue Reading.