• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

Gore Mountain’s Backwoods Ski Club: A Short History

January 18, 2021 by Mike Prescott Leave a Comment

backwoods ski club logoThere is an annual tradition near the end of every ski season at Gore Mountain – a party sponsored by the Backwoods Ski Club for the workers and volunteers who make the season happen.

The Club provides a dinner buffet and beverages, and Club members mingle and merge with the lift operators, ski patrol members, ski instructors, snow makers, groomers, maintenance workers, concession and food service workers, office staff, and those who are constantly working to clean up the mess. [Read more…] about Gore Mountain’s Backwoods Ski Club: A Short History

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Recreation Tagged With: backcountry skiing, Gore Mountain, North Creek, North Creek Ski Bowl, skiing, snowboarding

Super Wood: Coming To Space Near You

January 17, 2021 by Paul Hetzler Leave a Comment

University of Maryland super woodAs a card-carrying, registered tree hugger, I have long touted the benefits of trees such as carbon storage, energy savings and improved mental health. And beyond the familiar tree-related blessings such as maple syrup, lumber and firewood, I’ve written about some obscure things like birch-based candy that fights tooth decay, and health-promoting chaga tea derived from a birch fungus. Then there’s basswood bark for fiber, elm bark for baskets, and pine bark for lunch.

That stuff is all pretty straightforward. More highly processed wood products, though, are a mystery to me. [Read more…] about Super Wood: Coming To Space Near You

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: astronomy, Forestry, nature, trees, Wildlife, wood products

Gretchen Sorin On African American Travel And Civil Rights

January 17, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

driving while blackThe Jay Heritage Center is set to host Gretchen Sorin, author of Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights (2020), to share her compelling account of the impact of automobile transportation on the Civil Rights movement. [Read more…] about Gretchen Sorin On African American Travel And Civil Rights

Filed Under: Books, Events, History Tagged With: Black History, Books, Civil Rights, Transportation, Transportation History

Owls: Common and Fascinating Forest Residents

January 17, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

TOS_BarredOwlOn frigid winter evenings, the hooting of a barred owl (Strix varia) serves as a reminder that the darkened forests of the Northeast are still very much alive with activity. Their nocturnal calling emanates from favorite forest haunts, including along lakeshores, swamps, and rivers. But the sound of an owl late at night also conveys a certain eeriness. Or perhaps we are simply conditioned to feel that way. Owls have generated feelings of awe, fascination, and fear for millennia, and their lives and sounds feature heavily in our collective imagination. [Read more…] about Owls: Common and Fascinating Forest Residents

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: birding, birds, nature, Wildlife

Fireflies: Fairy Lights and Princesses of Darkness

January 16, 2021 by Paul Hetzler Leave a Comment

female firefly courtesy Wikimedia user NEUROtikerThey’re devilishly intriguing, but fireflies, or lightning bugs as they are sometimes called, are angelic to watch. I have yet to hear of a single person who isn’t fascinated by the show that these glow-in-the-dark beetles put on. In the right location it can seem like a swirling, blinking Milky Way has come to visit. [Read more…] about Fireflies: Fairy Lights and Princesses of Darkness

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: insects, nature, Science, Wildlife

Henry DiSpirito: Stonemason to Sculptor (Virtual Lecture)

January 16, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Henry DiSpiritoHenry DiSpirito (1898–1995) emigrated from Italy in 1921, and found a nurturing home in Utica.

A stonemason and bricklayer by trade, he longed to devote his life to art. He found his calling in the direct-carving style of sculpture and became an accomplished painter as well. [Read more…] about Henry DiSpirito: Stonemason to Sculptor (Virtual Lecture)

Filed Under: Arts, Events, History Tagged With: Oneida County History Center

DEC Camps are Looking for Staff

January 16, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

DEC Summer CampThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced they are recruiting staff for the 2021 Summer Environmental Education Camps season. [Read more…] about DEC Camps are Looking for Staff

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, New York City, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: camping, DEC

Poetry: Lake George

January 16, 2021 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

Lake George

is how she saw it
a translucent
blue topaz shadow
disappearing
beneath the stump
of half-eaten pine cones

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts Tagged With: art, Lake George, Poetry

Empire State Trail Declared Complete

January 15, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

empire state trailThe Empire State Trail, the nation’s longest multi-use state trail, is now open for use. It spans 750-miles in total, 75 percent of which is off-road, ideal for cyclists, hikers, and runners.

The trail runs from New York City through the Hudson and Champlain valleys to Canada, and from Albany to Buffalo along the Erie Canal. [Read more…] about Empire State Trail Declared Complete

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: bicycling, empire state trail, hiking

Veteran’s Honor Roll Is One Town’s Lonely Sentinel

January 15, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Town of Wilton’s Veteran’s Honor RollIn winter, it stands silently like a lonely sentinel, set back from Ballard Road in the Town of Wilton, Saratoga County. Day and night the traffic whizzes by the Veteran’s Honor Roll, yet its presence is overlooked by most. [Read more…] about Veteran’s Honor Roll Is One Town’s Lonely Sentinel

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Wilton

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 953
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Help Us Reach Our Fundraising Goal For 2020

Subscribe to New York Almanack

Subscribe! Follow the New York Almanack each day via E-mail, RSS, Twitter or Facebook updates.

Recent Comments

  • Crystal Mitchell on The Mysterious Death of the Angel of Sing Sing
  • Jacob Harskamp on Napoleon’s Private Parts On Fifth Avenue: A Cautionary Tale
  • James S. Kaplan on Napoleon’s Private Parts On Fifth Avenue: A Cautionary Tale
  • Peter Waggitt on Mother of Exiles and Allegories of Liberty
  • Noel A. Sherry on Frank Tweedy: A Tenderfoot Becomes An Experienced Surveyor
  • James Grice on Esopus: Wiltwyck School For Boys Lecture
  • Noel Sherry on An Adirondack Surveyor’s Unpublished Work Reflects On A “Wild and Woolly” Career
  • Noel Sherry on Early Adirondack Surveys: The Great Corner & An Ancient Boundary
  • Bob Meyer on An Adirondack Surveyor’s Unpublished Work Reflects On A “Wild and Woolly” Career
  • Bob Bradley on Early Adirondack Surveys: The Great Corner & An Ancient Boundary

Recent New York Books

Craft book
Sittin In
sanctuary
Mysterious Stone Sites in the Hudson Valley and Northern New Jersey
Everything Worthy of Observation: The 1826 New York State Travel Journal of Alexander Stewart Scott by Paul G. Schneider Jr.
the inland sea
Schenectady Genesis, Volume II: The Creation of an American City from an Anglo-Dutch Town, ca. 1760-1800
americas first frontier
Francis Two-Gun Crowley's Killings in New York City & Long Island

Sponsors Support NY Almanack

 Top Male Enhancement

 Top Brain Enhancements

Secondary Sidebar

New York State Historic Markers