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Big Moose

The Great North Woods Before Logging: Twitchell Lake’s Virgin Timber

April 28, 2022 by Noel Sherry 9 Comments

1a Twitchell White PineOne of the best memories I carry from my vacations at our camp on Twitchell Lake in Herkimer County in the Adirondacks is the white pine that marks the western border of our lake-shore property. It’s massive base peaks with twin tops that tower above all the other trees on our shoreline. Peering up into its heights ignited my boyhood imagination, picturing myself atop the Crow’s Nest of some fast clipper ship, scouting for pirates.

There have been several hurricanes and microbursts that have wreaked havoc with the four plus miles of our lake’s shoreline, but my white pine stands firm still, its roots anchored deep in the ancient glacial fill. Even to this day, my brother Tom and I muse about an observation tower roped between those twin tops where we are poised, binoculars in hand, eye-to-eye with the bald eagles that visit the lake, and the loons that daily jet by. This giant stands well over 150 feet tall. [Read more…] about The Great North Woods Before Logging: Twitchell Lake’s Virgin Timber

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Recreation Tagged With: Abenaki, Adirondacks, Algonquin, Beaver River, Big Moose, Environmental History, Forestry, Herkimer COunty, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Logging, Logging the Adirondacks, nature, Twitchell Lake, White Pine

Deep In The Adirondack Woods, A Colvin Survey Benchmark Revealed

September 15, 2021 by Noel Sherry 3 Comments

1. Picture of Frank Tweedy, courtesy of Special Collections, Schaffer Library, Union College, 1875 As a boy growing up in the Battle Hill section of White Plains, NY, I remember my excitement at reading a brass memorial telling me “George Washington slept here.” White Plains was the site of a battle during the American Revolution.

Now as an adult I have had the thrill of learning that Verplanck Colvin surveyed Twitchell Lake and took measurements on the shore where my log cabin stands in Big Moose, NY.  That realization launched me on a quest to find a benchmark placed by one of Colvin’s surveyors on an important boundary line nearby. [Read more…] about Deep In The Adirondack Woods, A Colvin Survey Benchmark Revealed

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Big Moose, Big Moose Lake, Frank Tweedy, Hamilton County, John Brown Tract, Pigeon Lake Wilderness, surveying, Totten Crossfield Tract, Twitchell Lake, Verplanck Colvin

An Adirondack Surveyor’s Unpublished Work Reflects On A “Wild and Woolly” Career

January 14, 2021 by Noel Sherry 4 Comments

Two Topo Maps by TweedyFrank Tweedy’s four-years of Adirondack surveying under Verplanck Colvin prepared him for a 43-year career as Topographical Engineer with the US Geological Survey (1884-1927).

After completing his survey of the Beaver River Basin and the Totten & Crossfield Purchase’s western line (1876-79), Frank served as Sanitary Engineer in Newport, R. I. (1880-81) before signing on with the Northern Transcontinental Survey based in Newport (1882-83). His contributions to mapping the Rocky Mountains stand as a big part of his legacy. [Read more…] about An Adirondack Surveyor’s Unpublished Work Reflects On A “Wild and Woolly” Career

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Beaver River, Big Moose, Frank Tweedy, nature, surveying, Twitchell Lake

An Adirondack Surveyor’s Basecamp At Twitchell Lake

January 7, 2021 by Noel Sherry Leave a Comment

The First Camp on Twitchell LakeAs Frank Tweedy approached the end of his four-year stint with forest surveyor Squire Snell on Verplanck Colvin’s Adirondack Survey, Southwest Division, he was no longer a tenderfoot, but a veteran surveyor and topographer, with many miles of survey work in the Beaver River basin and six expertly drawn maps to his credit.

His southern trek to finish the Totten and Crossfield Tract boundary line necessitated a new base camp well south of Beaver River. Twitchell Lake in Big Moose was the perfect location. [Read more…] about An Adirondack Surveyor’s Basecamp At Twitchell Lake

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Adirondacks, Beaver River, Big Moose, Frank Tweedy, Fulton Chain, Native Plants, surveying, Twitchell Lake

A Twitchell Lake Love Story: Passing on a Family Legacy

June 14, 2020 by Noel Sherry 2 Comments

Norman and Lucretias first home in TroyThis is part three of this series A Twitchell Lake Love Story – part two can be found here.

After their marriage, newlyweds Norman and Lucretia Sherry moved into their first home. They brought four children into the world – Elizabeth (1910), Francis (1911), Norman, Jr. (1913), and Esther (1918). Lucretia (Lu, as she was called) had her piano shipped from Buffalo to Troy, filling their home with music and hymns, and teaching her children the keyboard. [Read more…] about A Twitchell Lake Love Story: Passing on a Family Legacy

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Big Moose, Big Moose Lake, Buffalo, Troy, Twitchell Lake

A Twitchell Lake Love Story: Norman’s Transformation

June 13, 2020 by Noel Sherry 1 Comment

Twitchell LakeThe first part of this series, A Twitchell Lake Love Story, can be found here.

On March 21 of 1908, Norman Sherry received an invitation from Lucretia Hayes:

“My dear Norman, thank you for your letter of yesterday. It was good to hear about your trip to Alaska. I would love to see the kodaks. I think I know the perfect time to view them. My family has summered on a lake in the Adirondacks called Twitchell for many years now. It is my favorite place in all the world. Could you arrange to visit me there? My parents can rent a cottage at Covey’s Inn where we stay. We will arrive there by Grand Central rail on Thursday, May fourteenth. Let me know if you could visit in May. Warmly, Lucretia Hayes” (This letter is constructed from entries in Norman’s Diary). [Read more…] about A Twitchell Lake Love Story: Norman’s Transformation

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Big Moose, Big Moose Lake, Twitchell Lake

A Twitchell Lake Love Story: The First Encounter

June 13, 2020 by Noel Sherry Leave a Comment

Little Beaver CampI am a fourth generation Sherry owning a camp on Twitchell Lake in Big Moose, NY, in the Adirondacks. with my wife Ingelise. We share ownership of “Little Beaver” with my three brothers and their wives. Four diaries from our second generation have helped to solve the mystery of how the family first came to Twitchell Lake. It turns out it all started with a love story! [Read more…] about A Twitchell Lake Love Story: The First Encounter

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Big Moose, Big Moose Lake, Genealogy, Herkimer COunty, Troy, Twitchell Lake

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, Lowville, Twitchell Lake

A Mystery Writer’s Tramp to Twitchell’s Lake

April 25, 2020 by Noel Sherry Leave a Comment

Topographical Map of Lewis CountyOn July 8, 1874, The Lowville Journal and Republican ran an article about a party of six men who trekked to Twitchell Lake in Big Moose, NY, for a nine-day stay. They came by horse and buggy up the Number Four Road through Watson Township from some town to the west. [Read more…] about A Mystery Writer’s Tramp to Twitchell’s Lake

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

Twitchell Lake History: ‘A Melancholy Occurrence’

April 21, 2020 by Noel Sherry 2 Comments

Pencil Sketch and Creation of Scene of the 1856 Melancholy Occurrence by Noel Sherry“Melancholy Occurrence” was a fairly common expression for a tragic event in the middle of the 19th century. A search of historic newspapers revealed the phrase was used some 250 times from 1820 to 1870. Several of these were murder cases, such as the son of the Spanish Consul being stabbed through the heart with a cane sword by an angry neighbor. But most were unexpected events such as a fatal strike by lightening, a young fire victim, or a drowning. [Read more…] about Twitchell Lake History: ‘A Melancholy Occurrence’

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

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