Founded as a coalition of national, regional and local environmental organizations in January 1975, the Adirondack Council was created 50 years ago to focus attention on the emerging threats of acid rain, declining biodiversity and the increasing subdivision and development of wildlands in the Adirondack Park. [Read more…] about Adirondack Council Celebrates 50th Anniversary
Adirondack Museum
Early Images of the Adirondacks: Science, Art, Tourism
The first Europeans to see the Adirondack landscape of Northern New York came to explore, to document important military operations and fortifications, or to create maps and scientifically accurate images of the terrain, flora, and fauna.
These early illustrations filled practical needs rather than aesthetic ones. In 1818, the Adirondacks was still a mysterious “wild, barren tract…covered with almost impenetrable Bogs, Marshes & Ponds, and the uplands with Rocks and evergreens.” [Read more…] about Early Images of the Adirondacks: Science, Art, Tourism
Adirondack Museum Changes Name To ‘The Adirondack Experience’
The Adirondack Museum has changed its name to The Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake (ADKX).
Director of Marketing Ausra Angermann, who came on board in February and has helped implement the name change, said “Changing a name and identity is not a decision that is taken lightly. The name change was under way before I came on board. Research was conducted and a marketing team put in place as well as an agency to help with the transition.” [Read more…] about Adirondack Museum Changes Name To ‘The Adirondack Experience’
Two Adirondack Antiquing Adventures Sept 14-18
Dealers in high quality antiques from across the country are converging in the Adirondack wilderness for two events, the Adirondack Mountains Antiques Show in Indian Lake, held Wednesday, Sept. 14, through Sunday, Sept. 18, and the Adirondack Museum Antiques Show and Sale, held Saturday, Sept. 17, and Sunday, Sept. 18. More than 100 dealers are expected to exhibit at two shows, held in the two mountain hamlets about 11 miles apart.
They’re expected to bring with them high-quality art, antiques, collectibles and other vintage items — much of it curated with a rustic Adirondack sensibility — including camp, cottage, Mission, and Old Hickory furniture; rare books; vintage boats; antique sporting goods; taxidermy; quilts; historical fine art and folk art; militaria; oriental rugs; Native American jewelry and artifacts; and much more. [Read more…] about Two Adirondack Antiquing Adventures Sept 14-18
Adirondack Museum Planning $9.4M Overhaul
The board of trustees of the Adirondack Museum has announced the launch of the public phase of its $9.4 million capital campaign “For Generations,” which is hoped to raise funds to update its exhibitions, expand opportunities for visitors to explore the museum’s natural surroundings, enhance universal access, and other improvements.
More than $7.5 million has been raised in donations and pledges to date. [Read more…] about Adirondack Museum Planning $9.4M Overhaul
Family Fun At Adirondack Museums During Presidents’ Week
The Adirondack Museum and The Wild Center are offering a variety of winter activities during the upcoming Presidents’ Week.
The Wild Center in Tupper Lake will be open every day through February 21st celebrating the season with a different winter theme each day. The Wild Center’s winter hours are usually Friday through Sunday, so this is indeed a special treat for everyone. The staff at the Wild Center is pulling out all the stops with special guided snowshoe walks, live animal encounters and even a winter watercolor project. [Read more…] about Family Fun At Adirondack Museums During Presidents’ Week
Adirondack Museum Reopens Friday
The Adirondack Museum opens for its 58th season on Friday, May 22, with new exhibitions, programs, family activities, and events.
The museum invites year-round residents of the Adirondack Park to visit free of charge every Sunday during the open season, and every day the museum is open in May and October. (Proof of year-round residency – such as a driver’s license, passport, or voter registration card – is required). [Read more…] about Adirondack Museum Reopens Friday
Abenaki History At Adirondack Museum Sunday
No account of the history of the Adirondacks is complete without a consideration of its Abenaki residents, and the Adirondack Museum houses an impressive collection of artifacts that help illustrate the story of Abenaki culture and its significance in the Adirondack region.
In the final installment of the Adirondack Museum’s Cabin Fever Sundays series, anthropologist Christopher Roy and an Abenaki panel including Andree Newton, Diane Cubit, and James Watsaw, will discuss the experiences of Abenaki families in the Adirondack region and throughout the Northeast for the past several centuries. [Read more…] about Abenaki History At Adirondack Museum Sunday
Robert Fulton Lecture At Adirondack Museum
In the fourth installment of the Adirondack Museum’s Cabin Fever Sundays series, New York Council for the Humanities speaker Robert Arnold III will explore the legacy of Robert Fulton, the creator of the first commercially successful steamboat.
Arnold will address the ways Fulton’s steamboat helped to catalyze the expansion of steam power into the energy source that propelled America’s Industrial Revolution. Fulton was a talented artist and inventor who also devised canal locks used in Britain, and the first workable submarine (for Napoleon Bonaparte). [Read more…] about Robert Fulton Lecture At Adirondack Museum
‘Cabin Fever Sundays’ At Adirondack Museum
From North Creek to Blue Mountain Lake to Glens Falls, this winter the Adirondack Museum’s “Cabin Fever Sundays” series is presenting a wide-ranging look at life in the Adirondacks – yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
In the first installment of the series, author and photographer David E. Cook will take the audience on an exploration of approximately 80 – 85 light towers that have marked the waters inside the current boundaries of the Adirondack Park, dating back to around 1815. [Read more…] about ‘Cabin Fever Sundays’ At Adirondack Museum
Famous Log Cabin Headed to Adirondack Museum
The Adirondack Museum has announced that the institution will receive into the museum’s collection the wilderness cabin Anne LaBastille, famous worldwide from her Woodswoman series of books, built and lived in, along with many of her personal effects.
An accompanying gift of $300,000 will support the costs of moving the cabin to the museum and incorporating it into a new exhibition, The Adirondack Experience, expected to open in 2017. The gifts were made by the Estate of LaBastille, an author, ecologist, environmental advocate, and former Adirondack Park Agency Commissioner, who passed away in 2011. [Read more…] about Famous Log Cabin Headed to Adirondack Museum
Adirondack Museum Lecture Series Begins Sunday
From snowmobiles to Iroquois culture, from North Creek to Old Forge, the Adirondack Museum’s “Cabin Fever Sundays” series will present a wide-ranging look at life in the Adirondacks – yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
The series kicks off with “Lost Ski Areas of the Southern Adirondacks,” featuring speaker Jeremy Davis, at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 5, at View, on Route 28 in Old Forge, NY. Admission is free for museum members, students, and children; $5 for non-members. [Read more…] about Adirondack Museum Lecture Series Begins Sunday
Program On Adirondack Bread, Beer Saturday
Adirondack Museum Curator Hallie Bond will present a program on the history of food in the Adirondacks, particularly the connection between bread and beer. The program, called “Traditions in Bread and Beer: Lives of Adirondackers Before Modernization,” will involve discussion and displays; participants will be able to sample both ingredients and final products.
Bond is co-writing a book about traditional food of the Adirondacks and has discovered connections between bread and beer; the two were complementary tasks for early Adirondackers. Her presentation will address how they were made before World War II and how transportation networks, particularly railroads, were established.
Bond has been a curator at the Adirondack Museum since 1987. She has curated a number of popular exhibits including “Common Threads: 150 Years of Adirondack Quilts and Comforters,” “A Paradise for Boys and Girls: Children’s Camps in the Adirondacks,” and “Boats and Boating in the Adirondacks.” She has written extensively about regional history and material culture.
The program will be held from 3 to 5 pm on November 10 at the Adirondack Interpretive Center (AIC) in Newcomb. The AIC is a branch of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s Northern Forest Institute. For more information contact the AIC at 518-582-2200 ext. 11 or by email at aic@esf.edu.
Adirondack Fabric and Fiber Arts Festival Saturday
Join the Adirondack Museum for the Adirondack Fabric and Fiber Arts Festival on Saturday, September 15, 2012. Celebrate all things fiber during this annual event with fabulous and unique fabrics, regional artists, spinning, weaving, quilting, knitting, knotting and more.
Demonstrations throughout the weekend include: quilting with the Adirondack Regional Textile Artists association, mixed media with Louisa Woodworth and Julie Branch, recycled fiber items with Maria Wulf, Northern Needles quilting demonstration and displays, and wool arts demonstrations with The Serendipity Spinners. Aaron Bush, Jane Mackintosh, and Carol Wilson demonstrate a variety of knitting techniques and will also lead a knit-in for visitors who bring a project.
A special display, “Upcycling Fabric: Ideas from the Past” provides a chance for visitors to talk with Curator Hallie Bond and discover the frugality and creativity of our forebears.
The Festival will also include a vendor market where you can shop for locally made fabric and fiber treasures. Vendors for this year’s Festival include: Baskets by Linda, Keller Country, Liberty Fibers, Heirlooms, Cat in the Window Weaving, Icy Acres, Patridge Run Farm, Kalieidoscope Kolors, Ewe’ll Love the Weather, Color My Loom, Nana Joanne, Kirbside Gardens, 2nd Time Around, The Silver Studio, Harvest Herb Company, Adirondack Handmade, Adirondack Doll Co.
and Laura’s Quality Knits.
Singer and songwriter, Peggy Lynn, will provide music throughout the day.
25th Rustic Furniture Fair at Adirondack Museum
The Adirondack Museum will host its 25th Annual Rustic Furniture Fair on Saturday, September 8 and Sunday, September 9 in Blue Mountain Lake. Renowned artisans from throughout the United States will showcase and sell their one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture, furnishings, and artwork.
The show will be open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Visitors interested in an early buying opportunity can visit on Saturday, September 8 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Tickets will be available at the door, and are available now online.
The Adirondack Museum’s Rustic Furniture Fair is recognized as the premier event of its kind in the country. This gathering of talented artisans includes both traditional and contemporary styles of furniture design, handcrafted from natural materials. A list of the sixty participating artisans can be found on the museum’s website. Demonstrations of furniture making and painting will take place throughout the weekend. Exhibitors will answer questions about their work, or discuss custom made pieces.
In celebration of the 25th or Silver Anniversary of the Rustic Fair, more than twenty-five artisans have elected to design and create a unique commemorative piece for this year’s show. Each piece will bear a tribute plaque. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the commemorative pieces will benefit the museum.
In addition, there will be a very special silent auction happening during the Fair featuring the works of Barney Bellinger, Randy Holden, Larry Post, Russ DeFonce, Jonathan Swartwout, Bill Perkins, Rick Pratt and Bob Jones. Winners will be announced Sunday, September 9 at 3 p.m. Proceeds will benefit the Adirondack Museum.
Music throughout the weekend will be provided by Intermountain Trio. They will be releasing their second album “Can’t Find the Words” at the Rustic Fair this year. Intermountain Trio will be playing starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, September 8, and at 10 a.m. on September 9.
Hochschild Award Presented at Adirondack Museum
The Board of Trustees of the Adirondack Museum formally presented the Harold K. Hochschild Award to John and Margot Ernst at their annual Gala Benefit on July 28, 2012.
The Harold K. Hochschild Award is dedicated to the memory of the museum’s founder, whose passion for the Adirondacks, its people, and environment inspired the creation of the Adirondack Museum. Since 1990 the museum has presented the award to a wide range of intellectual and community leaders throughout the Adirondack Park, highlighting their contributions to the region’s culture and quality of life.
“On behalf of the Adirondack Museum, I would like to congratulate John and Margot Ernst on receiving this prestigious honor for their commitment and service to the Adirondack region,” said David M. Kahn, Executive Director of the Adirondack Museum.
John and Margot Ernst split their time between New York City and Elk Lake Lodge, a family owned resort near North Hudson, N.Y., located in the 12,000 acre Elk Lake-Clear Pond private preserve, which National Geographic called “the jewel of the Adirondacks.” John and Margot are involved in public service through their work with non-profit organizations in New York State and the North Country.
The Adirondack Museum, accredited by the American Association of Museums, offers 65,000 square feet of exciting exhibitions housed in twenty-two modern and historic buildings. Visitors can explore how people have lived, worked, traveled, and played in the Adirondacks from the 19th century up to today. The museum is supported in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency. For additional information, visit www.adirondackmuseum.org or call (518) 352-7311.
Photo: (l-r) John Ernst; Nancy Keet – Chair, Harold K. Hochschild Award Committee; and Margot Ernst.
Mountain Men Encampment at the Adirondack Museum
The fur trade comes to life at the Adirondack Museum this weekend, Friday, August 17 and Saturday, August 18. Join the museum and educational interpreters in period dress as they showcase a variety of survival skills at the annual American Mountain Men Encampment.
Visitors will see colorful demonstrations of tomahawk and knife throwing, campfire cooking, firearms and shooting, and fire starting. There will be displays of pelts and furs, clothing of eastern and western mountain styles, period firearms and much more.
Mountain men are powerful symbols of America’s wild frontier. Legends about the mountain man continue to fascinate because many of the tales are true: the life of the mountain man was rough, and despite an amazing ability to survive in the wilderness, it brought him face to face with death on a regular basis.
The American Mountain Men group was founded in 1968. The association researches and studies the history, traditions, tools, and mode of living of the trappers, explorers, and traders known as the mountain men. Members continuously work for mastery of the primitive skills of both the original mountain men and Native Americans. The group prides itself on the accuracy and authenticity of its interpretation and shares the knowledge they have gained with all who are interested.
Participants in the museum encampment are from the Brothers of the New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts segment of the national American Mountain Men organization. Participation in the encampment is by invitation only.
All of the American Mountain Men activities and demonstrations are included in the price of Adirondack Museum admission. There is no charge for museum members. The Adirondack Museum is open 7 days a week, from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., through October 14. The museum will close at 3 p.m. September 7 for special event preparations.
Adirondack Museum Acquires William Trost Richards Painting
The Adirondack Museum announces a significant addition to the permanent collection. The painting, Adirondack Landscape [Elizabethtown], 1864, by William Trost Richards (1833-1905), is a gift of the estate of Waldo Hutchins III. The painting is on exhibit in the Lynn H. Boillot Art Galleries for the 2012 season. [Read more…] about Adirondack Museum Acquires William Trost Richards Painting
Adirondack Museum Dog Days Features ‘Marley and Me’ Author
New York Times Bestselling Author John Grogan will headline the Adirondack Museum’s annual Dog Days of Summer event with a public program called “Marley &Me: What Man’s Best Friend Can Teach Us About Being Human.” The program will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 4 the museum’s center campus. Dogs are welcome. In addition to the public program, there will be a question and answer session, and a book signing. Copies of Grogan’s bestselling books will be available at the Museum Store. [Read more…] about Adirondack Museum Dog Days Features ‘Marley and Me’ Author
The Civil War And The Adirondacks: 1861-1865
One hundred fifty years ago this country was torn apart by a great civil war. The Adirondack Museum will host a weekend dedicated to remembering the Civil War in the Adirondacks, the men who fought it and their loved ones at home, this Saturday, July 21 and Sunday, July 22.
Visitors will be able to meet the members of the 118th Volunteer Infantry (the “Adirondack” Regiment”) and President Lincoln at a Civil War Encampment and learn the fate of Adirondack Civil War soldiers of the 118th themselves at a specially produced presentation by author Glenn Pearsall on Saturday (7:00 p.m.) entitled “The Adirondacks Go To War: 1861 – 1865.”
In the Adirondacks many young men, boys really, left their hard scrabble farms and small towns for the first time in their lives to enlist. Learn what their thoughts were as they marched off to war and how they reacted to the horrors of war. Hear what it was like for the wives, children, mothers and father that they left behind, as well as the lasting impact of the war on the small towns in the Adirondacks following the war.
Pearsall spent two years researching the Civil War veterans from Johnsburg in the southeastern Adirondacks before preparing this special program based on letters and journals (which will be read by a Civil War re-enactors in uniform). The presentation will also include over 100 historic photographs of soldiers and battlefield scenes. “Each member of the audience will be given a name of a soldier from the Adirondacks who fought in the war and will ultimately find out if they survived the war,” he told the New York History.
Pearsall’s presentation will focus on men serving with the 22nd New York (one of the first to respond to President Lincoln’s call to arms and recruited in Warren and Saratoga Counties), the 93rd (recruited from Essex, Fulton, Hamilton and Warren Counties who suffered horrific losses in the contest between U.S. Grant and Robert E. Lee), the 96th or “Plattsburgh Regiment” (recruited primarily from Clinton County), the 115th (recruited from Hamilton and Fulton Counties) and the 118th or “Adirondack Regiment” (recruited from Clinton, Essex and Warren Counties, the first regiment to enter the Confederate capital in Richmond on its fall). Pearsall will also explain a special Adirondack link to the capture of John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.
The “Adirondack Regiment” will also be the focus of the weekend-long encampment at the Museum. Mustered into service in August 1862, over one thousand North Country men served in the unit. Re-enactors will camp at the museum and share stories of camp life, and what it was like to be a soldier in the Civil War. Visitors will learn about the 118th assignments and movements, the battles they fought in, and the historic moment when General Robert E. Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Court House.
President Lincoln will be portrayed by John R. Baylis, who has appeared as the 16th President of the United States at Gettysburg, Antietam, Cedar Creek, Ottawa, and as far south as Key West.
Pearsall’s presentation will be held in the Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. The program will be offered at no charge to museum members; the fee for non-members is $5.00. For additional information, please visit www.adirondackmuseum.org or call (518) 352-7311.
Photo: A volunteer infantry soldier of the 118th “Adirondack Regiment” (circa 1863, courtesy Adirondack Museum).