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Noel Sherry

About Noel Sherry

Rev. Noel Sherry has pastored and taught in Massachusetts, is part owner of a log cabin on Twitchell Lake in Big Moose, NY, and is a life-long hiker, sailing enthusiast, and student of the Adirondack Mountains. He is a member of a History Committee working on documenting the story of Twitchell Lake. He has been married for 47 years to his wife Ingelise, with 3 young-adult children and 9 grand kids who all love the Adirondacks.

The Naming of Twitchell Lake in the Adirondacks

July 31, 2023 by Noel Sherry 4 Comments

Copenhagen to Twitchell Lake, Google Maps“Toponym” is the technical term for a place name, especially one derived from a topographical feature.  I’m hooked on toponyms. My starting point is Twitchell Lake in Big Moose, located in the town Webb, Herkimer County, NY, in the Adirondacks where six generations of my family have vacationed in a cabin since the early 1900s.

Debate on our lake’s name has reached a crescendo as a history committee collects our stories for a Twitchell book. This article explores the fascinating connection between our lake’s name and the Twitchell family of Copenhagen, in Lewis County, NY. This map traces the 50-mile route from Copenhagen through Lewis County, across the Black River, and then up the Number Four Road into the Adirondack Mountains. Which leads to my question: How on earth did this dairy farming family get its name attached to this lake? [Read more…] about The Naming of Twitchell Lake in the Adirondacks

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondacks, Beaver River, Brown's Tract, Copenhagen, Frank Tweedy, Herkimer COunty, Lewis County, Lowville, surveying, Totten Crossfield Tract, Town of Webb, Twitchell Lake, Verplanck Colvin

Teachable Moments Launch A New Book

May 13, 2023 by Noel Sherry Leave a Comment

Autobiographies are by far the most popular genre in literature. My experience mentoring over 150 adults in completing and sharing a “Life Map” project in a supportive group reinforces this fact. For many of these adults, their Life Map turned out to be one of their best learning experiences. And that in spite of the fact that for about eight percent of adults this “experiment” in self-writing and exploration came up against a “darkside event” or difficult life-chapter that put up a real roadblock. [Read more…] about Teachable Moments Launch A New Book

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, Capital-Saratoga, New York City Tagged With: Adirondacks, Big Moose, Herkimer COunty, Literature, Religion, Rensselaer County, RPI, Staten Island, Troy, Twitchell Lake, Vietnam War, Writing

Adirondack Logging History: Wood’s Lake & Beaver River Stations

January 23, 2023 by Noel Sherry 5 Comments

Northern section showing lumber company railroads branching off New York Central, from BillAfter Hudson River logging sharply declined by 1905, the Adirondack railroad line known as the Mohawk & Malone kept NYS lumber companies in business for at least another twelve years. A big part of this was due to logging north of Big Moose, shown on this New York Central & Hudson River railroad map, with eight station stops northward toward Tupper Lake (shown at left), three of them as junctions for logging railroads — Wood’s Lake, Brandreth, and Nehasane.

Beaver River Station was shifting from logging to tourism. Little Rapids was a flag stop, Keepawa unlisted in an 1895 train schedule. This article will describe the logging history of Wood’s Lake and Beaver River stations, beginning with a new lumbering operation just north of Big Moose. [Read more…] about Adirondack Logging History: Wood’s Lake & Beaver River Stations

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature Tagged With: Adirondack Dams, Adirondacks, Beaver River, Big Moose, Burd Amendment, Forest Preserve, Herkimer COunty, Industrial History, International Paper, Legal History, Lewis County, Logging, Logging the Adirondacks, Mohawk & Malone Railroad, New York Central RR, railroads, Silver Lake, Stillwater, Town of Webb, Transportation History, Twitchell Lake, William Seward Webb

Lumbering Operations at Big Moose Lake (1900-1920)

December 29, 2022 by Noel Sherry Leave a Comment

Totten & Crossfield Triangle in northwest corner of Township 41, The first of three major logging operations on Big Moose Lake in Herkimer County in the Adirondacks was headed by a veteran lumber company executive named Theodore Page. Page built palatial “Camp Veery” on Echo Island in West Bay, purchased from William Seward Webb in 1900. He arrived at Big Moose Lake from Oswego, NY, with many years of leadership in the lumber industry, importing timber from Canada for the Minetto Shade Cloth Company – one of the largest U.S. manufacturers of shade cloth, window shades, shade-rollers, and curtain fixtures. [Read more…] about Lumbering Operations at Big Moose Lake (1900-1920)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature Tagged With: Adirondacks, Big Moose, Big Moose Lake, Brown's Tract, Francis Higgins, Hamilton County, Herkimer COunty, Industrial History, Legal History, Logging, Logging the Adirondacks, Mohawk & Malone Railroad, New York Central RR, railroads, Town of Webb, Twitchell Lake, William Seward Webb

Big Moose As A Lumber & Tourist Hub (1900-1920)

December 28, 2022 by Noel Sherry 8 Comments

wedding picture of Norman Burt Sherry with Lucretia Caroline Hayes,The spark that got me writing about Adirondack history was the personal question of how my family came into possession of a log cabin on Twitchell Lake in Big Moose, NY. Unraveling this mystery took a year’s research — searching newly discovered diaries and networking with genealogy contacts.

It turns out my connection began with a love story, which I told in the New York Almanack. That account included the accompanying photo of my grandparents’ wedding in Buffalo, NY, in 1908. This article will explore how the hamlet of Big Moose supported the growth of thriving summer communities on Twitchell and Big Moose Lakes, setting the stage for major logging operations on Big Moose Lake. Early in this era, 60 percent of Twitchell’s lakeshore was slated for major logging before going up for sale as summer lots. [Read more…] about Big Moose As A Lumber & Tourist Hub (1900-1920)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Architecture, Beaver River, Big Moose, Brown's Tract, Herkimer COunty, Logging, Logging the Adirondacks, New York Central RR, railroads, Town of Webb, Transportation History, Twitchell Lake, William Seward Webb

Along The Mohawk & Malone: Forest Fires & Logging South of Big Moose (1900-1920)

December 27, 2022 by Noel Sherry 2 Comments

Picture of Rev. John Fitzgerald, Born in England, John Gerald Fitzgerald (1850-1925) attended seminary in Troy, NY, accepting his first assignment as a priest in the Diocese of Ogdensburg. Following pastorates in upstate New York, Father Fitz – as he was affectionately called – was given the daunting challenge of establishing a parish in Old Forge, in the Adirondacks.

In 1896, Northern Herkimer County was a heavily forested region dotted by tiny hamlets, scattered lumber camps, and remote railroad stations along the Mohawk & Malone Railroad. For the next twenty-nine years, he got off the Mohawk & Malone at stations like McKeever, Carter, Big Moose, Beaver River, Brandreth, Keepewa, Nehasane, and Horseshoe Lake, carrying his bible and sacraments from these stops to remote lumber camps on snowshoes, wearing his trademark coonskin cap and woolen mittens. His parish stretched over a 200 square-mile area. [Read more…] about Along The Mohawk & Malone: Forest Fires & Logging South of Big Moose (1900-1920)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Article 14, Beaver River, Big Moose, conservation, Fires, Forest Preserve, Forestry, Fulton Chain, Gifford Pinchot, Herkimer COunty, Industrial History, Logging, Logging the Adirondacks, McKeever, Mohawk & Malone Railroad, Moose River, New York Central RR, railroads, Raquette Lake

Adirondack History: New York State to the Rescue

November 15, 2022 by Noel Sherry 2 Comments

Entering Adirondack Park sign photo credit, Eric Meier;In the late nineteenth century, Adirondack VIP tours were arranged to assess water damage from state-sponsored dams that kept lumber mills powered and barges floating up and down the Erie Canal. Judges like Truman Fuller exhorted the New York State Forest Commission to get an accurate upstate map completed, to head off all the lawsuits. [Read more…] about Adirondack History: New York State to the Rescue

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Article 14, Big Moose, Environmental History, Forest Preserve, Forestry, Gifford Pinchot, Herkimer COunty, Legal History, Logging, Political History, Town of Webb, Twitchell Lake, William Seward Webb

Logging The Adirondacks: A Legal Logjam (1880-1900)

November 14, 2022 by Noel Sherry 5 Comments

Aaron Lloyd v. Moose River Lumber Co;An early 20th century Adirondack lawsuit pitted a small Big Moose Lake sportsman and landowner Aaron Lloyd against a team of powerful opponents, John Adams Dix and his Moose River Lumber Company with Dr. William Seward Webb and his Nehasane Park Association.

A second suit reversed the plaintiff and defendant, Webb vs. Lloyd, and appeared to be linked to the first complaint. Clearly this was a classic David versus Goliath clash. These cases would have been the fodder for conversations around the campfire in the Big Moose area for almost a decade.

On the surface, the complaints concerned the harvest of millions of board feet of virgin timber and flooding Big Moose Lake to get these logs to market, with Webb behind both actions. [Read more…] about Logging The Adirondacks: A Legal Logjam (1880-1900)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Big Moose, Big Moose Lake, Big Moose Tract, Environmental History, Forest Preserve, Hamilton County, Herkimer COunty, Industrial History, John A. Dix, Legal History, Logging, Mohawk & Malone Railroad, railroads, surveying, Totten Crossfield Tract, Town of Webb, Twitchell Lake, Verplanck Colvin, William Seward Webb

Central Adirondacks Lumbering Operations (1880-1900)

November 1, 2022 by Noel Sherry 1 Comment

6b1 Webb Land Sold to NYS in 1896 on Julius Bien MapAfter achieving his railroad dream and completing his Nehasane wilderness refuge – reachable using his own luxury rail car – William Seward Webb found himself in a major conflict with the State of New York.

Inlet historian Charles Herr tells this part of the story expertly, in his history of the Fulton Chain. My map here highlights that land aquisition by the State in yellow, totaling 74,585 acres of Brown’s Tract and in the Totten & Crossfield Purchase. Webb retained ownership of lakes like Twitchell and Big Moose because he intended those for later cottage and hotel sales. [Read more…] about Central Adirondacks Lumbering Operations (1880-1900)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Beaver River, Big Moose, Big Moose Tract, Black River, Forest Preserve, Herkimer, Herkimer COunty, John A. Dix, Legal History, Logging, McKeever, Mohawk & Malone Railroad, Moose River, Oneida County, Stillwater, Totten Crossfield Tract, Town of Webb, Transportation History, Twitchell Lake, Utica, William Seward Webb

William Seward Webb’s Railroad & Logging The Adirondacks

October 31, 2022 by Noel Sherry 5 Comments

Picture of an antique crosscut saw taken by Noel Sherry and hanging in his cabin; Hanging above a window in our Twitchell Lake cabin northeast of Big Moose, Herkimer County, in the Adirondacks is this five-foot-long saw with a handle at both ends, and a row of sharp knife-like teeth. I have never used it, but now know it is an antique crosscut saw for use by one or two persons. [Read more…] about William Seward Webb’s Railroad & Logging The Adirondacks

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Beaver River, Big Moose, Brown's Tract, Copenhagen, Gifford Pinchot, Herkimer COunty, Industrial History, John A. Dix, Labor History, Logging, Mohawk & Malone Railroad, Moose River, New York Central RR, railroads, Transportation History, Twitchell Lake, William Seward Webb

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