Clinton County

25 Great Adirondack Hikes to See Fall Colors

September 30, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

It’s nearing peak fall colors in the Adirondack Park. There are many places to see the leaves as mountainsides and valleys turn bright orange, yellow, and red.

Protect the Adirondacks has put together hiking guides to 25 hikes that are easy, moderate, and challenging, but lead to terrific locations to see the fall colors in all corners of the Adirondack Park. These guides include maps, information about hiking conditions, and pictures. [Read more…] about 25 Great Adirondack Hikes to See Fall Colors

1888: The First National Monument to Unknown Soldiers

September 26, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

From the winter 1812 “Camp Saranac” (Pike’s Cantonment) to the fortifications built for the defense and protection of the village of Plattsburgh and the important military stores in 1814 (Forts Brown, Moreau, and Scott, the wooden barracks and two additional forts – Forts Gaines and Tompkins – in 1815), the Plattsburgh Stone Barracks in 1838, the brick “brownstones” of the 1890s, to the establishment of the Army’s “Plattsburgh Barracks” in 1945 and the “new base” of the Air Force in the 1950s, the military presence in Plattsburgh have had a long and interesting past. [Read more…] about 1888: The First National Monument to Unknown Soldiers

Anna Elizabeth Dickinson: ‘America’s Civil War Joan of Arc’

September 21, 2023 by Helen Allen Nerska 1 Comment

On a cold, snowy January evening in 1874, Anna Elizabeth Dickinson became one of the first women of national prominence to speak on women’s suffrage in Clinton County, NY. Those gathering to hear her at the Palmer Hall, located upstairs at 60 Margaret Street in downtown Plattsburgh, were described as the most intellectual and cultivated in the community.

The crowd that night would have known her reputation. [Read more…] about Anna Elizabeth Dickinson: ‘America’s Civil War Joan of Arc’

Northern New York Landscape Artist Daniel Folger Bigelow

September 17, 2023 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Daniel Folger Bigelow, the nationally known landscape painter, was born on a farm in Peru, Clinton County, NY, on July 20 1823. As a child, Daniel stood on a chair and studied a wall painting. Between farm chores, he would sit on a fence and look across Lake Champlain, watching the magnificent change of colors on Mount Mansfield.

His pencil sketches pleased his parents, but they did not take his talent seriously, believing it was an impractical way to make a living. [Read more…] about Northern New York Landscape Artist Daniel Folger Bigelow

Michael Anderson: Plattsburgh’s Native Astronaut

September 14, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

History is often treated as an old thing, of events before anyone’s living memory, of days gone by. And yet history is happening all around us, all the time, right now, if we only choose to recognize it.

Clinton County made that choice in 2020 — in a big, bold way — a choice to mark the remarkable life of one of its own, Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson. [Read more…] about Michael Anderson: Plattsburgh’s Native Astronaut

Jehudi Ashmun: A Founder & Historian of Liberia

September 14, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Born and raised in the town of Champlain, Clinton County, NY, Jehudi Ashmun (1794 – 1828) was a religious leader and social reformer who helped lead efforts by the American Colonization Society to “repatriate” African Americans to a colony in West Africa.

The organization, formed in 1816 by Quakers and slaveholders, founded the colony of Liberia as a place to resettle free people of color from the United States, believing in part that Black people would face better chances for freedom and prosperity in Africa than in the United States. [Read more…] about Jehudi Ashmun: A Founder & Historian of Liberia

Aitkin’s Rifles: Mementos of the Battle of Plattsburgh

September 12, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

By any measure, things were looking very grim for General Alexander Macomb and his army on September 3, 1814. Scouting reports indicated that as many as 11,000 battle-hardened British troops were moving south along the western shore of Lake Champlain with Plattsburgh in their sights, and most Plattsburgh inhabitants had left for safer quarters. [Read more…] about Aitkin’s Rifles: Mementos of the Battle of Plattsburgh

Police Update Case Of Murdered Man Found in Ausable Chasm

September 12, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On March 20, 2023, around 2:12 am, New York State Police responded to the AuSable Chasm Bridge on State Route 9 in the town of Chesterfield, Essex County, NY, for a suspicious death. When Troopers arrived on the scene, they located Kenneth C. Darrah, age 37 of Keeseville, NY, deceased on the riverbank on the north bank of the AuSable River. [Read more…] about Police Update Case Of Murdered Man Found in Ausable Chasm

Adirondack Voices: Residents Speaking Out For Environmental Protection

September 12, 2023 by Lorraine Duvall Leave a Comment

I recently came across copies of Adirondack Voices from the 1990s, published by the Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks (RCPA). This organization was founded in 1990 by full-time residents of the Adirondack Park intent on trying to keep some peace in the Adirondacks.

RCPA believed that the integrity and economic viability of the Adirondack communities they lived and worked in could be enhanced while preserving their unique wilderness and wild forest landscape. [Read more…] about Adirondack Voices: Residents Speaking Out For Environmental Protection

Political News From Historic Northern New York Newspapers

August 14, 2023 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

Question: How dies a mine worker who lives in Port Henry arrive at work in Mineville at 7 am, works an eight hour-day, with a half-hour lunch break, and gets back to his home in Port Henry a little after 2:30 pm. [Read more…] about Political News From Historic Northern New York Newspapers