Hamilton County

Deep In The Adirondack Woods, A Colvin Survey Benchmark Revealed

September 15, 2021 by Noel Sherry 2 Comments

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

Adirondack Gentrification: Wilderness Disinvestment (Part 4)

August 4, 2021 by Eliza Jane Darling Leave a Comment

Rolling Stone once called Times Square “the sleaziest block in America.” The shoe fit in the early 1980s, when the crossroads of the world was the Skid Row of the east coast.

Today, a building in Times Square will run you somewhere in the vicinity of $600 million, but not long ago the neighborhood met the primary precondition for gentrification: disinvestment, a malady common to many inner city districts at the time.

Deindustrialization was one factor in urban depreciation. Suburbanization, rezoning and public retrenchment were others. All added up to the same sum total of cheap urban space beckoning profitable reinvestment. [Read more…] about Adirondack Gentrification: Wilderness Disinvestment (Part 4)

Adirondack Gentrification: Dispossession & Chronic Displacement (Part 2)

August 2, 2021 by Eliza Jane Darling 7 Comments

The shortage of children that closed the Raquette Lake School a decade ago was not due to a housing deficit. On the contrary, Raquette was chockablock with housing when the school failed, much of it sitting empty for most of the year.

While Raquette boasts some unusual features – some of its structures are accessible only by lake – it shares this same predicament with most other gentrifying Adirondack places, lake-locked or otherwise: plenty of lodging and nowhere to live.

How can any community with so many vacant dwellings suffer from a housing crisis? [Read more…] about Adirondack Gentrification: Dispossession & Chronic Displacement (Part 2)

The Devil’s Due: Adirondack Gentrification & Environmental Justice (Part 1: Displacement)

August 1, 2021 by Eliza Jane Darling 11 Comments

“Just close the fucking thing.”

These words of quiet despair were uttered twenty years ago in the aftermath of a meeting at the Raquette Lake School, whose imminent demise was increasingly apparent to the people of the village. The atmosphere at the Tap Room, the unofficial community center where attendees had decamped to face the inevitable over a beer, was raw.

The man who issued the fatal prognosis relished it neither as a parent nor an alumnus. But the writing was on the wall. Pupils had dwindled to single digits, too few for a play or a baseball team, never mind the district budget for utilities, maintenance, transportation and salaries. With no babies on the horizon, the current crop of children would age out, and there would soon be none left to educate. [Read more…] about The Devil’s Due: Adirondack Gentrification & Environmental Justice (Part 1: Displacement)

Barbara Linell Glaser Named ‘Conservationist of the Year’

June 11, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Adirondack Council will present its Conservationist of the Year Award to Barbara Linell Glaser, EdD, during the organization’s Forever Wild Day celebration on July 9th at Great Camp Sagamore, near the Adirondack hamlet of Raquette Lake. [Read more…] about Barbara Linell Glaser Named ‘Conservationist of the Year’

Adirondacks Forest Pest Symposium April 22nd

April 18, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Hamilton County Soil and Water Conservation District has announced a Forest Pest Symposium, highlighting bad bugs that are invasive to the Adirondacks, set for April 22nd. This symposium will focus on identification, impacts, and how partners are slowing the spread of emerald ash borer, hemlock woolly adelgid, and spotted lanternfly. [Read more…] about Adirondacks Forest Pest Symposium April 22nd

Featured Trail: Foxy Brown XC Trail In Jessup River Wild Forest

January 22, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Foxy Brown X-Country Ski Trail is a 5.6-mile trail located within the Jessup River Wild Forest, in Piseco (in the town of Arietta, Hamilton County).

After traveling along the Piseco Airport runway, the trail routes users primarily through over a newly built bridge across a muddy bog and northern hardwood forest. To complete a loop, users will follow the trail just north of the runway and should be sure to check for oncoming aircraft before traveling back to the trailhead and parking area. [Read more…] about Featured Trail: Foxy Brown XC Trail In Jessup River Wild Forest

Frank Tweedy: A Tenderfoot Becomes An Experienced Surveyor

December 2, 2020 by Noel Sherry 8 Comments

Frank Tweedy landed his dream job after graduating from Union College as Civil Engineer in 1875. Verplanck Colvin, Superintendent of the Adirondack Survey, needed a topographer to work under veteran forest surveyor Squire Snell in his Southwestern Division and so he hired Tweedy.

Colvin was taking a big chance on a tenderfoot surveyor, but for Tweedy this was the chance of a lifetime to learn from a renowned cartographer and his expert woodsmen. “Tenderfoot” became the subtitle of the autobiography Frank later penned. [Read more…] about Frank Tweedy: A Tenderfoot Becomes An Experienced Surveyor

Hamilton County’s Tower Plans For Cathead Mountain

July 6, 2020 by Peter Bauer Leave a Comment

This is the fourth article in a series that looks at three possible constitutional amendments to Article 14, Section 1 that are being debated in 2020.

This article looks at the issue of utilizing Forest Preserve lands around Cathead Mountain, in the south edge of the Silver Lake Wilderness area, in the Adirondack Park in Hamilton County, to locate a new emergency communications tower, similar to such towers on Blue Mountain and East Mountain. [Read more…] about Hamilton County’s Tower Plans For Cathead Mountain

1984 Hamilton Co Homicide Remains Unsolved

April 12, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On October 10, 1984, the body of Robert Darling Jr. was found in a wooded area off the Benson Road in the town of Benson, Hamilton County, New York. His body was discovered by hunters who had been scouting a heavily wooded area approximately 1,000 feet off the north side of the roadway. [Read more…] about 1984 Hamilton Co Homicide Remains Unsolved