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Adirondack Guides

Jack Sheppard: Civil War Vet, Panther Hunter, Adirondack Guide & Steamboat Operator

November 7, 2021 by Roy Crego 7 Comments

Exhibit 1_Sheppard Portrait Jack Sheppard came to the Fulton Chain region of the Western Adirondacks after roaming the West as a youth and then served in the Union Army during the Civil War.

These experiences equipped Sheppard with the knowledge, skills, and social network to become a successful guide and enabled him to shift his occupation from guide to innkeeper, to builder, to businessman. He never married or raised a family, but when he left the Adirondacks in 1892 he left behind a long list of devoted friends that reads like a virtual who’s who of Adirondack history. [Read more…] about Jack Sheppard: Civil War Vet, Panther Hunter, Adirondack Guide & Steamboat Operator

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: 117th NY Volunteers, Adirondack Guides, Adirondacks, Brown's Tract, Civil War, Environmental History, Fourth Lake, Genealogy, Hamilton County, Herkimer COunty, hunting, Moose River, Mountain Lions, Old Forge, Steamboating, surveying, Verplanck Colvin

Adirondack Park Permits: Could Johns Brook Valley Be Next? Some History

April 1, 2021 by John Warren 2 Comments

Johns Brook LodgeThe institution of a permit system at the Ausable Club’s Adirondack Mountain Reserve surprised and confused some hikers and would-be hikers. Many didn’t realize that third most popular High Peaks Wilderness Area access point, through the Club’s lands in the Upper Ausable Valley, was privately owned.

A similar situation holds at the Johns Brook Valley, another popular access point just northwest. That area is owned by the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK), it faces similar parking challenges and is just as susceptible to a future permit system. [Read more…] about Adirondack Park Permits: Could Johns Brook Valley Be Next? Some History

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondack Mountain Club, Adirondack Mountain Reserve, Adirondack Park, Ausable River, camping, High Peaks, hiking, Johns Brook, Keene, Keene Valley, Logging, Mount Marcy

Hiram Burke, Noted Adirondack Guide of Twitchell Lake

May 5, 2020 by Noel Sherry 3 Comments

Burke Shanty on Twitchell LakeMany of the lakes in John Brown’s Tract had guides who took their sporting parties to their own fishing or hunting camps north and south of the Beaver River. This is how lakes like Hitchcock, Beach, and Salmon got their names. [Read more…] about Hiram Burke, Noted Adirondack Guide of Twitchell Lake

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondack Park, Adirondacks, Big Moose, Frank Tweedy, John Brown Tract, Lewis County, Twitchell Lake

The Shooting of Adirondack Guide Alex White

April 19, 2020 by Roy Crego 5 Comments

Alex WhiteSunday, October 22, 1916, seemed like a good day for a deer hunt at the Adirondack League Club, near Old Forge.  Walter D. Gelshenen of Manhassett, Long Island, and his brother-in-law William S. Lawson of New York City hired two local guides, Alexander White and Howard Stell.

They started out early for Fernow Mountain, east of Little Moose Lake and just south of Mountain Pond. [Read more…] about The Shooting of Adirondack Guide Alex White

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, New York City, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondack League Club, Adirondack Park, Crime and Justice, hunting, Old Forge

The Crego Family: Three Generations of Adirondack Guides

April 15, 2020 by Roy Crego 4 Comments

crego-farm-courtesy-Joyce-Entremont  In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, three generations of the Crego family worked as wilderness guides in the Western Adirondacks. Along the way, they raised families, worked for prominent employers, adapted to new forms of transportation, and helped lay the groundwork for the conservation movement in New York State. [Read more…] about The Crego Family: Three Generations of Adirondack Guides

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondack Park, Big Moose, Big Moose Lake, Boonville, Brown's Tract, Fish and Game Commission, fishing, Fourth Lake, Fulton Chain, hunting, Lewis County, Moose River, Old Forge, Oneida Fish Hatchery

The Union Club’s Camp on Big Moose Lake

April 9, 2020 by Roy Crego 2 Comments

The-Old-Club-Camp-courtesy-Roger-and-Nancy-PrattThe Club Camp is often mentioned as the first permanent structure built on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks. The word permanent is rather ironic as this hunting and fishing establishment had a relatively short history of just 28 years. Today the camp’s origins, visitors, and sad end seem largely forgotten. [Read more…] about The Union Club’s Camp on Big Moose Lake

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, New York City Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Big Moose, Big Moose Lake, Fires, Fisheries, NYC, ornithology, Union Club, zoology

How Twitchell Lake Was Named, And A Poem

April 7, 2020 by Noel Sherry 3 Comments

Hiram Burkes log shantyThe Twitchell Lake History Committee is working on documenting the story of Twitchell Lake in Big Moose, NY, and how it was named, with an account of the individual camps, hotels, and highlights down through the years. Twitchell Lake is 5 to 6 miles south of the old Lake Champlain Road, now under the Stillwater Reservoir in Northern Herkimer County. [Read more…] about How Twitchell Lake Was Named, And A Poem

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondacks, Big Moose, Lewis County, Poetry, Twitchell Lake

A Short History of Club Camp on Big Moose Lake

October 24, 2019 by Roy Crego 4 Comments

The Old Club Camp courtesy Roger and Nancy PrattThe Club Camp is often mentioned as the first permanent structure built on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks. The word permanent is rather ironic because this hunting and fishing establishment had a relatively short history of just 28 years. Today the camp’s origins, visitors, and sad end seem largely forgotten.

According to Joseph F. Grady’s The Adirondacks: Fulton Chain-Big Moose Region (1933), the Club Camp was constructed in 1878 at the request of several sportsmen from New York City who had been spending summers on the lake in previous years.

At the time, Big Moose, near Old Forge, NY, was difficult to reach — the railroad would not arrive in the area until 1892. Before 1878, only lean-tos or shanties were available on Big Moose, notably that of businessman William “Billy” Dutton, which was built in 1876, and that of guide Jack Sheppard which was set up around the same time. [Read more…] about A Short History of Club Camp on Big Moose Lake

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondacks, Big Moose, Fires, fishing

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