Croghan

Croghan Wildfire Burns More Than 20 Acres

October 16, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On October 5th four Forest Rangers, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Department, Lewis County Emergency Management and the Castorland, Croghan, and New Breman Fire Departments responded to a wildland fire burning leaf litter and measuring almost 23 acres in the town of Croghan in Lewis County.

Fire departments knocked down most of the active flames around the perimeter, but as of 8 pm, the fire was only 20 percent contained. Two Rangers continued patrolling the fire overnight. [Read more…] about Croghan Wildfire Burns More Than 20 Acres

How Winter is Changing in the Tug Hill Region

March 31, 2025 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Tug Hill receives the greatest average snowfall totals in New York State. In Harold Samson’s book Tug Hill Country; Tales from the Big Woods (1971) he wrote “Tug Hill is, and always has been, noted for its winter snows… In winter, the Tug Hill plateau becomes a vast wilderness of white; favorite playground of snowmobilers and other winter sports enthusiasts.”

An economic study in 2021 estimated that 34,254 unique snowmobile users ride Tug Hill’s trails each year, bringing in nearly $81.6 million in sales from snowmobile activity. A new study by the Tug Hill Commission hopes to better understand how our warming climate will affect the region and its winter sports industry in the years to come. [Read more…] about How Winter is Changing in the Tug Hill Region

24 Nominations for State and National Registers of Historic Places

November 13, 2024 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced the nominations of 24 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The nominations include bank buildings, factories, historic district updates, and more. [Read more…] about 24 Nominations for State and National Registers of Historic Places

“Running the Rapids” by Twitchell Lake’s Poet Laureate

November 18, 2023 by Noel Sherry 7 Comments

One of the titles I have earned as an adult is “Poet Laureate of Twitchell Lake.” Along with the title goes a hat someone crafted out of old sugar-free Tab cans, this writer posing with it here.

Strange hat isn’t it! One of the community-building activities on our lake in Big Moose, New York, is a Fourth of July “Poet’s Potluck,” an event hosted by the Conable family. [Read more…] about “Running the Rapids” by Twitchell Lake’s Poet Laureate

A Legendary Adirondack River Driver

October 15, 2023 by Noel Sherry 3 Comments

The history of lumbering in the Adirondacks and in America is replete with legendary exploits. There were the championship sled loads each camp paraded, claiming theirs carried the most cords of stacked timber in one season.

There were the annual woodsman’s field days for each region in which lumberjacks showed off their cutting skills. And then there was the most dangerous job of all, that of the “river pigs” as they were called. These log drivers freed tangled logs and guided them downstream for milling.

One legendary feat in logging history happened on the Beaver River on a Sunday, April 27th, in 1913. [Read more…] about A Legendary Adirondack River Driver

An Adirondack Lumber Camp at Twitchell Lake, 1860-80

May 25, 2022 by Noel Sherry Leave a Comment

My uncle Frank Sherry taught my brother Tom and I orienteering, using a map and compass to navigate through the woods and find a remote pond or other location. We were teenagers and it was an exciting way to spend a Saturday.

On one of these adventures we were in search of Silver Dollar Pond to the east of Twitchell Lake in Northern Herkimer County,when we stumbled on our first lumber camp. The telltale signs were pieces of metal hanging from a tree and protruding from the ground, with old bottles half-buried in the forest floor. We made note of the location on our map, a half-mile from Twitchell, and returned to explore it. It wasn’t long before we located the camp dump, from which we dug up the items pictured here.

These and other objects triggered an active discussion on the date of this old camp, with an imaginative re-creation of what life might have been like for a lumberjacks living and working there. [Read more…] about An Adirondack Lumber Camp at Twitchell Lake, 1860-80

Up Every River: Logging The Adirondacks (1820-40)

May 9, 2022 by Noel Sherry Leave a Comment

In the 1820s the State of New York encouraged Adirondack exploration and settlement, benefiting from the land sales and taxes (when they were paid). Lewis County newspapers were abuzz with praise for the 1825 completion of the Erie Canal, and in less than a year, the Black River Gazette launched a discussion on “improving” the Black River as a connection between the canal and the St. Lawrence River, anticipating the economic benefit Adirondack timber would bring when this opened a commercial route to the rest of the world: [Read more…] about Up Every River: Logging The Adirondacks (1820-40)

Logging The Adirondacks From The West (1800-1820)

May 2, 2022 by Noel Sherry 6 Comments

In the nineteenth century Lewis County settlements east of the Black River were just getting established; most of these included at least one saw mill. By 1820 these settlements were beginning to push their way up the rivers into the Adirondacks, and new mills were being built along their courses. A Copenhagen, NY farmer on Tug Hill, viewing the Adirondack panorama spread out to his east, wrote the following in a Journal & Republican article titled “North Woods Wonder:”

“All the wilderness is strewn with lakes as if some great mirror had been shattered by an Almighty hand, and scattered through the forests for Nature to make her toilet by … And how the rivers meander the woods as the veins of a human hand. There are Beaver, Moose, and Indian, Bog, Grass and Racket… And how rough and shaggy the wilderness is with mountains … Let them pass unnamed.”

One of these “shattered” gems was Twitchell Lake. [Read more…] about Logging The Adirondacks From The West (1800-1820)

Preserving the Home of an Adirondack Lumber Baron

November 19, 2021 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

This week on The Historians Podcast, Travis Proulx discusses preservation efforts at the Adirondack home of lumber baron Theodore Basselin in Croghan, New York. Proulx is a native of Croghan and is restoring the Basselin Mansion with the help of other family members. [Read more…] about Preserving the Home of an Adirondack Lumber Baron

Maple Syrup Production Focus of New TAUNY Video

April 22, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (TAUNY) has announced the release of Yancey’s Sugarbush: First Crop of the Year as part of their Traditions of the Season video series. Yancey’s Sugarbush is a 30-minute documentary that features a family-owned sugaring operation in Croghan, Lewis County, NY, that has been in the Yancy family since 1844. [Read more…] about Maple Syrup Production Focus of New TAUNY Video

Croghan Tract Easement Final Recreation Plan Released

October 13, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has released a final Recreation Management Plan (RMP) for the Croghan Tract Conservation Easement.

The Croghan Tract Easement is comprised of 12,816 acres of private forestland in the towns of Croghan and Watson in Lewis County. [Read more…] about Croghan Tract Easement Final Recreation Plan Released

Croghan

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