Before I-87, Route 9, and the railroad, the fastest way to reach the Town of Chester, NY, in Northern Warren County was over a plank road, part of a trend of wood surfaced roads that began in the late 1830s. [Read more…] about The Warrensburg-Chestertown Plank Road, 1850-1911
Chestertown
Emerald Ash Borer: A Threat to Trees, Mohawk Traditions
Within the past several years, at least three terrestrial pests have invaded the forests of the Lake George watershed. Among them: emerald ash borer, which was first detected in Warren County in 2020, along the Schroon River near Chestertown.
That discovery was the first indication that the invasive species might have established itself in the southern Adirondacks. [Read more…] about Emerald Ash Borer: A Threat to Trees, Mohawk Traditions
Featured Collections: Warren County’s Austin Historical Collection
The late Judge John Austin’s unrivalled collection of books and documents related to the history of Warren County, its towns and families has been reassembled as a reference library in the Warren County Clerk’s Office. There, hundreds of books, folders and much more, including documents that are particularly useful for those who research genealogy, are accessible to researchers by appointment. [Read more…] about Featured Collections: Warren County’s Austin Historical Collection
Buffalo’s Boxing Champion Jimmy Slattery in the Adirondacks
Fans might have easily forgiven Indian Lake, NY pitcher Jimmy Slattery for being on the losing end of a 9-0 shutout against rival Warrensburg. Slattery had rushed back to the Adirondacks after winning a professional light heavy-weight boxing match by unanimous decision at Coney Island Stadium the previous evening.
“Jimmy Slattery of Buffalo, who pitched the first five innings for the Indian Lake team, returned yesterday morning from New York, where on Saturday night he defeated Maxey Rosenbloom in an important bout,” The Glens Falls Times reported on August 29, 1925. [Read more…] about Buffalo’s Boxing Champion Jimmy Slattery in the Adirondacks
Devil’s Kitchen: Warren County’s Nightmare for Drivers
The colorful name Devil’s Kitchen has been used in numerous book titles, restaurant names, and for hiking destinations in at least seven states.
In Upstate New York we have a version in the Catskills, described here as “quite possibly the most hellacious [bicycle] climb in New York State.” That area, with cliffs, numerous waterfalls, and slippery slopes, has seen many hiker deaths as well. [Read more…] about Devil’s Kitchen: Warren County’s Nightmare for Drivers
Glidden Auto Tour: Testing the Reliability of Early Automobiles
For the car enthusiast today, the term cross country rally recalls dust-covered cars testing skill and endurance by racing across endless landscapes of sand dunes and giant cacti.
In the early days of automobiles, these contests were also held where the roads were poor, and the skills of drivers were pushed to the limit. Fortunately, the contestants did not have to travel the world to compete, as these early rallies were run on the bone-rattling roads of rural America. [Read more…] about Glidden Auto Tour: Testing the Reliability of Early Automobiles
Artist Charles Annibale Creates Stunning Abstract Glass Mosaics
Charles Annibale is well-known throughout the Southern Adirondacks and Saratoga region as the friendly, hardworking owner/operator of Clean and Clear Windows.
But there’s another whole side to this industrious dynamo — and it, too, involves glass! Over the past seven years, Annibale has earned a thriving reputation as a mosaic artist whose abstract masterpieces are made exclusively from fragments of glass rather than traditional mosaic tiles. [Read more…] about Artist Charles Annibale Creates Stunning Abstract Glass Mosaics
Fighting Food Insecurity in the Lake George Region
Three towns in Warren County – Lake George, Bolton and Horicon – are among those with hamlets where median home sale prices range from $600,000 to $900,000 – among the highest in Upstate New York.
But drive a few miles inland and the picture is a very different one. The safety net is fraying. [Read more…] about Fighting Food Insecurity in the Lake George Region
1957: The I-87 Northway and the Adirondack Forest
What follows is The Northway and the Adirondack Forest: A Highway Location Study, published August 31, 1957 by the New York State Department of Public Works. The 333.49-mile-long Adirondack Northway, Interstate-87, has origins in the construction of the Major Deegan Expressway in the 1930s and was completed to the Canadian border in 1967.
The Northway (Interstate Route 502 [now designated I-87]) gets its name by traversing the area once known as the “Great Northern Wilderness.” Vital to the national defense network, it is being designed and constructed in accordance with the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 as a joint Federal-State venture. [Read more…] about 1957: The I-87 Northway and the Adirondack Forest
Hudson River Paddler Drowns Near North Creek; 6 Rescued From St. Regis River
On Friday, July 12, at about 8:25 pm, Warren County requested Forest New York State Ranger assistance with the search for an overturned kayaker on the Hudson River near North Creek in the town of Johnsburg,, NY. The Adirondack Park hamlet is a popular center for padding and whitewater rafting. [Read more…] about Hudson River Paddler Drowns Near North Creek; 6 Rescued From St. Regis River
3 Elder Hikers Among 6 Rescued Upstate by Forest Rangers
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people and engage in policing on New York State Lands.
What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers. [Read more…] about 3 Elder Hikers Among 6 Rescued Upstate by Forest Rangers
Adirondack Beer Brewing Traditions
A new era of alcoholic beverage production is dawning in the Adirondacks. You can drink locally-brewed beer from any one of several micro-breweries, or imbibe vodka distilled from potatoes grown in Gabriels (in the town of Brighton, Franklin County) and filtered through the high-quality quartz crystals known as Herkimer diamonds.
“Drinking local” has a long tradition in the Adirondack Park. Consider the honorable history of Adirondack beer. [Read more…] about Adirondack Beer Brewing Traditions
Louis W. Emerson: Warren County Industrialist & Political Leader
Louis W. Emerson made a victory lap the day after he was elected to the New York state Senate.
“Senator-elect Emerson of Warrensburg was in town yesterday and smiled on his friends and ‘friends,’” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on November 7, 1889. [Read more…] about Louis W. Emerson: Warren County Industrialist & Political Leader
“Strange things about Mrs. Simeon Hays,” The Woman That Lived Without Eating
Night 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
The Adirondack Northway: Some History
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
New Effort to Promote Western Warren County’s “First Wilderness” Heritage Underway
The Warren County Department of Planning and Community Development has launched a collaboration with Cliff & Redfield Interactive (CRI), a Saratoga Springs-based rich-media communications organization, for a year-long campaign to promote community development and heritage tourism in the First Wilderness Heritage Corridor of western Warren County. [Read more…] about New Effort to Promote Western Warren County’s “First Wilderness” Heritage Underway
The Pottersville Fair: Gambling, Races, and Gaslight Village
Those traveling on the Adirondack Northway (I-87) between Exits 26 and 27 probably don’t realize they are passing over Pottersville, the northern Warren County hamlet that borders southern Schroon Lake.
For a hundred years, from the 1870s into the early 1960s, the tiny village was home to amusements that drew thousands. The most remarkable of them, the Pottersville Fair, drew 7,000 on a single day in 1913. Later it hosted a large dance hall, roller skating rink, and the Glendale Drive-in, while nearby Under the Maples on Echo Lake was host to circus acts and an amusement park that was a forerunner of the Gaslight Village theme park in nearby Lake George. [Read more…] about The Pottersville Fair: Gambling, Races, and Gaslight Village
Gaslight Village: Lake George Fun Yesterday
Gaslight Village in Lake George, NY was opened in 1959 by Charles R. “Charley” Wood.
Charley already owned a number of other investments, including Holiday House on the shores of Lake George, and Storytown, U.S.A., an amusement park with a Mother Goose rhymes theme (later expanded with Ghost Town, a western boot-hill theme, and Jungle Land, an animal park) which he opened in 1954. He later went on to build the Tiki Resort (one of America’s last original Tiki bars), a short lived wax museum, the Sun Castle resort, and more. [Read more…] about Gaslight Village: Lake George Fun Yesterday
July On The Farm In The 19th Century
A July 1876 heat wave ripened Washington County garden crops early.
“Peas, summer squash and cucumbers are plenty,” The Granville Sentinel reported on July 21st. “The mercury climbs up every day into the nineties and drops only to seventy or eighty at night.” [Read more…] about July On The Farm In The 19th Century
The First (Short Lived) Suspension Bridge Across The Hudson River
Robert Codgell Gilchrist was born into an extremely wealthy well-connected Charleston family in 1829. The oligarchic families of South Carolina had made their wealth on tobacco, rice, indigo, and shipping and Charleston harbor was one of the centers of the southern slave trade. Robert Gilchist’s father had received a federal Judgeship from President Martin Van Buren and he owned an opulent home.
Each summer the wealthy Gilchrist family journeyed north to avoid the hot humid subtropical summers of Charleston. They stayed with maternal family members in the Great Northern Wilderness of New York. (The term Adirondacks is said to have been first used by geologist and surveyor Ebenezer Emmons in 1838 and took some time to come into general use). [Read more…] about The First (Short Lived) Suspension Bridge Across The Hudson River