New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Bolton

When The Yeggs Hit Upstate New York

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Always remember !! Square meals Make round peopleIt was late on Wednesday, January 19th, 1910, and Police Chief W. R. Bronner was making his evening rounds through the quiet village of Mohawk, in the town of German Flatts, Herkimer County, NY, making sure all was safe for both business and residents.

Somewhere near the intersection of Main and Washington streets, he encountered four men who engaged him in conversation as they all walked along. Before he could resist, he was relieved of his pistol, gagged, and brought into the Masonic Hall billiard room that the Yeggs had broken into earlier in the evening. Once inside, Bronner was bound with wire taken from pictures on the wall. [Read more…] about When The Yeggs Hit Upstate New York

How Does A Land Trust Protect A Watershed? One Parcel At A Time

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Saddlebrook Stream Species start to vanish from streams during the first stages of suburban development, according to the United States Geological Service. By the time impervious surfaces had absorbed 20 percent of the terrain of some New England watersheds, for example, those streams’ aquatic invertebrate communities had shrunk by roughly 25 percent. [Read more…] about How Does A Land Trust Protect A Watershed? One Parcel At A Time

Bolton Historical Museum Acquires Trolley Car Diner

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Bill Gates Diner on display at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain LakeThe Bill Gates Diner, a fixture of life in Bolton Landing on Lake George from 1949 until 1980, when it was purchased by two local residents and then donated to the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, will return to Bolton, Warren County, NY.

The diner has been acquired by the Bolton Historical Museum, which will care for it as “a piece of living history,” said Dr. Glenn A. Long, the museum’s interim executive director. [Read more…] about Bolton Historical Museum Acquires Trolley Car Diner

Garden Club of Lake George Celebrates Centenary

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Members of the Garden Club of Lake George and their guests gathered for a group portrait at the Lake George Club in 2016The Garden Club of Lake George was founded in the summer of 1922 by nine women: Mary Whitman Knauth; Marianne Schurz; Gertrude Ranger; Elizabeth Brereton; Mona Hawkins; Mary Hayden; Elizabeth Kreitler; and Charlotte Hyde.

These were no ordinary women. [Read more…] about Garden Club of Lake George Celebrates Centenary

General Electric & Lake George: Lasting Links

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Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt on Lake GeorgeA lot has changed in Sweet Briar Bay on Lake George since 1936, the first year Dr. Doug Langdon looked out upon the lake from the property he now owns.  Horace Barber’s Boat Livery is gone, and so is the Algonquin Hotel above the lake road.

The hotel’s lakefront has been replaced by the Algonquin restaurant and Chic’s Marina, and the level of boat traffic in the bay probably could not have been imagined in 1936. [Read more…] about General Electric & Lake George: Lasting Links

The Adirondack Northway: Some History

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July 9, 1954 issue of the Lake George MirrorThe 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

The Showboat Era on Lake George 1933-1937

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Horicon IIWhen the sidewheel steamboat Horicon II was launched on Lake George in 1910, she was both the longest and fastest passenger vessel to ever sail the lake. Over the next 29 years, she would be used for transportation of cargo and residents around the lake, as well as cruises for tourists.

The construction of a road on the west side of the lake, as well as the region’s rapidly increasing mobility with the introduction of the automobile, brought a dramatic decline in passengers. In response to this trend, in 1932 the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, owners of the steamboats on the lake through the Lake George Steamboat Company, announced that they would not be running boats that year. [Read more…] about The Showboat Era on Lake George 1933-1937

150 Acres Protected At Lake George

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Saddlebrook Stream courtesy Lake George Land ConservancyThe Lake George Land Conservancy (LGLC) has protected 150 acres of Bolton, NY uplands in Warren County through the use of a conservation easement, a tool used by land trusts that keep land in private ownership while protecting the land’s conservation values.

The property includes one mile of stream corridor and 10 acres of wetland within the Indian Brook tributary of Lake George. [Read more…] about 150 Acres Protected At Lake George

Sembrich Celebrating Beethoven’s 250th Birthday Online

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sembrich summer festivalThe Sembrich is celebrating the 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven as part of its 20/20: Virtual Visionaries online summer festival.

“A Beethoven Birthday Celebration,” The third installment of The Sembrich’s online festival, explores the composer’s innovative and unique contributions to classical music.

The Festival will look at the many qualities and characteristics of Beethoven and his music through historical images, commentary by both Sembrich Artistic Director Richard Wargo and The Musical Quarterly’s Christopher H. Gibbs, and video performances by virtuoso pianist Christopher Johnson. [Read more…] about Sembrich Celebrating Beethoven’s 250th Birthday Online

Bradley’s Lookout Over Lake George Being Protected

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view from Bradley's Lookout, courtesy LGLCThe Town of Bolton and the Lake George Land Conservancy (LGLC) have announced their intention to purchase a 62 acre parcel of land in the town on the west side of Lake George in Warren County known as Bradley’s Lookout.

The Town is expected to purchase the property from the LGLC following the latter’s expected acquisition later this summer. The property will be encumbered by a conservation easement held by the LGLC. [Read more…] about Bradley’s Lookout Over Lake George Being Protected