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Adirondacks Region

Adirondack Conservation News: 5 Things You Need To Know

January 7, 2023 by Justin Levine Leave a Comment

Moriah Shock Correctional FacilityADK leaders urge state to reuse Moriah Shock Correctional Facility set to close December 31st

The Adirondack Council, along with several local and state elected officials and other environmental groups, called for the state to keep maintaining the former prison complex in Moriah. The state had slated to stop upkeep on the facility, which closed in 2021. While particular uses for the facility are up for debate, a wide coalition believes the facility can be used for training, housing, and other uses rather than reverting to constitutionally protected lands that would need a constitutional amendment to develop into something new. [Read more…] about Adirondack Conservation News: 5 Things You Need To Know

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Council, Adirondack Watershed Institute, Adirondacks, Climate Change, Moriah

Recreation Highlight: Camp Sagamore Trail System

January 6, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Camp Sagamore Trail SystemWithin the 47,000-acre Blue Ridge Wilderness lies the Camp Sagamore Trail System. Located near and around the grounds of Great Camp Sagamore, a registered National Historic Landmark and one of few Adirondack Great Camps still in existence today, this trail system provides an immersive nature experience. [Read more…] about Recreation Highlight: Camp Sagamore Trail System

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondacks, Blue Ridge Wilderness, Great Camp Sagamore, Hamilton County, hiking, Inlet, Raquette Lake

Hiker Rescued From Johns Brook Trail in Adirondack High Peaks

January 4, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Photo of hiker being rescued on Johns Brook Trail on January 2, 2023 provided by DEC.On Monday, January 2, 2023 at 2:15 p.m., NYS Department of Environmental Conservation’s dispatch office in Ray Brook, Essex County, NY, requested NYS Forest Ranger assistance with a hiker who collapsed in the snow on Johns Brook Trail. The trail, located in Keene Valley in Essex County is one of the most popular accesses to the Adirondack High Peaks. [Read more…] about Hiker Rescued From Johns Brook Trail in Adirondack High Peaks

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondacks, Essex County, Forest Ranger Reports, High Peaks, hiking, Johns Brook, Keene, Keene Valley, Search and Rescue

History Corrected: Adirondack Guide Charles H Smith & King Edward VII

January 3, 2023 by Roy Crego 4 Comments

New Bremen, Atlas of Lewis CountyHistory often makes a muddle of people’s lives. One such example is Charles H. Smith (ca. 1832 – 1911) of Petries Corners in the town of Watson, Lewis County, NY. Charles was well known as an Adirondack guide in the Beaver River/Stillwater area of the Western Adirondacks.

He lived to a ripe old age as an elder statesman of the guiding fraternity. But confusing reports of his age, a story about guiding for royalty, and a common first and last name have obscured his actual accomplishments. [Read more…] about History Corrected: Adirondack Guide Charles H Smith & King Edward VII

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondacks, Beaver River, Boonville, botany, Brown's Tract, Horatio Seymour, Lewis County, Stillwater, Watson

Expanded New Edition Adirondack History Published

January 2, 2023 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Expanded Second Edition of Echoes in These MountainsEchoes in These Mountains was author-historian Glenn Pearsall’s first award-winning book. Published in 2008, it tells the stories behind 55 historic sites in the Adirondack township of Johnsburg, in Warren County, NY.

The book was well received and the original run of 1,500 copies sold out years ago, so Pearsall decided it was time for a second edition. The second edition features additional historic photographs, an index and added new research and analysis, totaling 512 pages. [Read more…] about Expanded New Edition Adirondack History Published

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Books, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, American Revolution, Civil War, French And Indian War, Hudson River, Johnsburg, North Creek, Thirteenth Lake, Warren County

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

Adirondack Land Trust, Lake Placid Land Conservancy Merger Takes Effect in New Year

December 28, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Mountain bikers at Three Sisters Preserve participating in a women’s ride during the 2021 Wilmington Mountain Bike Fest (photo by Jamie McGiver provided)The merger of two nationally accredited land trusts streamlines operations and ensures continued open space protection in New York’s Adirondack Park.

Effective January 1, 2023, the Lake Placid Land Conservancy (LPLC) will merge into the Adirondack Land Trust as approved by the New York State Attorney General’s office and the Secretary of State. The assets, programs and land stewardship responsibilities of LPLC will be transferred to the Adirondack Land Trust. [Read more…] about Adirondack Land Trust, Lake Placid Land Conservancy Merger Takes Effect in New Year

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Land Trust, Adirondacks, BETA, Hardy Road Trails, hiking, Lake Placid Land Conservancy, mountain biking, snowshoeing, Three Sisters Preserve

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

“Strange things about Mrs. Simeon Hays,” The Woman That Lived Without Eating

December 27, 2022 by John Warren 2 Comments

Chestertown and Horicon map 1858Night and day for three full weeks six well-dressed men would take shifts standing watch over Betsey Hays in her bed. They planned to stay with her two at a time in her one room cabin and make careful scientific notes.  For Betsey, who spent most of her time tormented by uncontrollable bodily contortions and seizures, it was something she was used to.

Over the past two years, thousands of people had come to Chestertown in Northern Warren County to stand over her as she suffered. [Read more…] about “Strange things about Mrs. Simeon Hays,” The Woman That Lived Without Eating

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Brant Lake, Chestertown, Glens Falls, Horicon, Medical History, NYU, Religious History, Science History, Warren County, Washington County, William Miller

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

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