Maury Thompson

Maury Thompson is a freelance writer and documentary film producer from Ticonderoga who specializes in the history of politics, labor organizing and media in New York's North Country.

He previously was a reporter for The Post-Star of Glens Falls for 21 years.

His latest book is The Animated Feather Duster: Slow News Day Tales of the Legendary Facial Hair of Charles Evans Hughes.

Floyd Bennett’s Last Visit To Ticonderoga

December 1, 2019 by Maury Thompson 4 Comments

Aviator Floyd Bennett was back in Ticonderoga on March 13, 1928 after a 12-year absence. Since his last visit, Bennett had been to the North Pole and back, as co-pilot and mechanic with explorer Richard Byrd, and had received the National Geographic Society medal from President Calvin Coolidge.

But the one who had “risen to the top of his chosen profession” was still “the same old Floyd” that once worked at People’s Garage with Ticonderoga motorcycle policeman Carl O’Dell. [Read more…] about Floyd Bennett’s Last Visit To Ticonderoga

Artifacts: History’s Primary Sources

November 19, 2019 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

George Washington’s brown Inauguration suit may have been plain for the times, but it was tailored from American-made broad cloth. The majority of cloth used in the United States in 1789 was imported from Britain, said Eliza West, an expert on 18th century textiles.

Wearing a suit of British-made fabric would have been a faux pas in the young nation that won its independence from Britain, so Washington asked cabinet member Henry Knox, of Fort Ticonderoga fame, to locate a suit of American-made cloth. The irony, West said, is that the cloth was of such quality that many people would not believe it was American made, and accused Washington of political incorrectness any way. [Read more…] about Artifacts: History’s Primary Sources