History, Natural History & the Arts
The Belvedere Restaurant property — a Saranac Lake landmark that has been owned and operated by the Cavallo Family for nearly 90 years — has transitioned to new ownership as Chrissie Wais and John Levy have taken the helm at the historic business.
The ownership transition marks a new chapter for the Belvedere, which originally served as a boarding house before the restaurant opened in 1933. [Read more…] about Historic Saranac Lake Restaurant Gets New Owners
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin’s refusal to negotiate legislation to curb climate change will harm New York’s Adirondack Park as well as the growing clean-manufacturing economy in nearby Plattsburgh, according to the Adirondack Council.
The Council called on New York State government to intensify its efforts to reduce carbon emissions, and called on the state’s voters to approve the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Bond Act on the ballot November 8th. [Read more…] about Adk Council: Manchin Harming Adirondacks, Local Green Jobs
2021 was the first year of the new permit system at the Adirondack Mountain Reserve (AMR) parking area and trailheads in St. Hubert’s in the Adirondack Park’s High Peaks region, organized by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
The permit reservation system is seasonal and runs from May 1st to October 31st. 2022 is year two. Last year I went through the system in its first month on a hike up Gothics Mountain and wrote a review about my experience. [Read more…] about A Review of the High Peaks-AMR Parking Permit System in Year Two
The Adirondack Northway (I-87) made Lake George more accessible than any other resort area in the Northeast. So, it’s appropriate that the birth of the modern interstate highway system can be traced to Lake George; specifically, to the 46th Annual National Governor’s Conference, held July 11th to 13th, 1954, at the Sagamore Hotel in Bolton Landing.
To be precise, the Conference was the site not so much of the birth of the interstate highway system, but of the announcement of its birth. [Read more…] about The Adirondack Northway: Some History
Curt Stager’s scholarly demeanor cracked on July 4th when he spread three small plastic baggies of soil on three graves of Black Adirondackers at Union Cemetery on state Route 3 in Vermontville, Franklin County, NY.
Stager didn’t know any of these people personally. They all died in the late 1800s. But in researching their lives, Stager, a Paul Smith’s College biology professor, said he’s become immensely respectful of their fights for freedom for all Americans, on the battlefield, or at home. [Read more…] about Black Adirondack Farmers, Escaped Slaves, Civil War Veterans, Remembered at Union Cemetery
The shuttle system launched in 2021 for the busy Route 73 corridor in the Adirondack High Peaks Region will return on Saturday, July 9th.
[Read more…] about Adirondack High Peaks, Route 73 Shuttle Starting July 9th
Recent pieces in the Adirondack Explorer (see here and here) have attempted to assess the implications of the decision by New York State’s highest court in Protect the Adirondacks v Department of Environmental Conservation and Adirondack Park Agency.
The Court of Appeals found that these state agencies violated the state constitution in their efforts to build a network of new extra-wide snowmobile trails in the Adirondack Forest Preserve. These commenters have derided the decision because they say it’s focused on tree cutting, which they argue is a poor standard to evaluate the constitutionality of management actions by state agencies under Article 14, Section 1, the Forever Wild Clause. [Read more…] about Forest Preserve Decision Has Far-Reaching Implications Beyond Tree Cutting
The closing hours of the NYS Legislative Session saw three Adirondack Park Agency appointees confirmed by the Senate, including the first Black appointee, Benita Law-Diao.
The Legislature also approved policy advances to curb the impacts of climate change, such as the commitment to protect 30% of New York’s forests by 2030. None of the several proposed amendments to the NYS Constitution’s “forever wild” clause were approved. [Read more…] about The Adirondack Park & The NYS Legislative Session
One of the earliest written accounts of Jock’s Lake in the Adirondacks (about twenty-five miles east of Boonville) was given by Jeptha Simms in his 1850 book Trappers of New York: A Biography of Nicholas Stoner & Nathaniel Foster:
“Jock’s Lake, so-called after Jock (Jonathan) Wright, an early trapper upon its shores, is a very pretty lake, five or six miles long, though not very wide; and is situated in the north-eastern or wilderness portion of Herkimer County, some ten miles from a place called Noblesborough. Its outlet is one of the sources of the west branch of West Canada Creek.” [Read more…] about Jock Wright & Dut Barber: Honondaga Lake History
The new book Adirondack Cabin & Mountain Poems (Subjudica House Press, 2022) by Edward Zahniser features mountain and wilderness poetry, written from the Adirondack cabin Zahniser has visited since the 1940s.
Here is the mountain experience rendered by the poet’s words. A harvest of wilderness after-thoughts by Zahniser who is a regular contributor to New York Almanack of poetry and essays about wilderness, his youth in the Adirondacks, and his father Howard Zahniser, author of the national Wilderness Act and friend of Adirondack conservationist Paul Shaefer. [Read more…] about Adirondack Cabin & Mountain Poems