Historic Saranac Lake (HSL) will host an open house will be held at the Trudeau Building, located at 118 Main Street, on Wednesday, April 6th from 4 to 6 pm. All community members are welcome to come by for a look at the building before renovations begin. [Read more…] about Historic Saranac Lake To Host Trudeau Building Open House
Historic Saranac Lake
Historic Saranac Lake Acquires Béla Bartók Artifacts
Historic Saranac Lake has announced that the Saranac Laboratory Museum has received an important donation, a collection of personal effects that once belonged to Béla Bartók.
Widely regarded as one of the great composers, Bartók spent the last three summers of his life in Saranac Lake, in the Adirondack Mountains. Historic Saranac Lake maintains the cabin where Bartók stayed the year of his death, in 1945, and shows it to the public by appointment. [Read more…] about Historic Saranac Lake Acquires Béla Bartók Artifacts
Resistance to Vaccines, Past & Present (A Virtual Talk)
Historic Saranac Lake has announced “Exploring Vaccine Resistance Past and Present,” a program discussing popular resistance to vaccines and other public health measures using past and present infectious disease pandemics as a backdrop, set for Thursday March 3rd. [Read more…] about Resistance to Vaccines, Past & Present (A Virtual Talk)
Construction Begins At New Historic Saranac Lake Museum
New temporary signage has gone up at the Trudeau Building on the corner of Church and Main in downtown Saranac Lake, NY. Historic Saranac Lake purchased the historic building in 2018 for expansion of the Saranac Laboratory Museum next door.
The Trudeau Building, once restored, will house expanded exhibits presenting the history of Trudeau and tuberculosis in Saranac Lake, as well as the broader history of the Saranac Lake region. The Trudeau Building will also provide secure storage space for HSL’s growing museum collection, as well as a dedicated research room open to the public. [Read more…] about Construction Begins At New Historic Saranac Lake Museum
The Sanatorium in Context: A Virtual Book Talk
Historic Saranac Lake will host “Place of Treatment, Place of Isolation, Place of Community: the Sanatorium in Context,” a virtual talk set for Thursday, February 3rd.
Public historian Tegan Kehoe will share stories from her book Exploring American Healthcare through 50 Historic Treasures (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022). The book presents a history of health and medicine through the lens of historic sites and artifacts in museums around the country. She will focus on her chapter on Saranac Lake, comparing and contrasting the patient experience with other sites of medical care. [Read more…] about The Sanatorium in Context: A Virtual Book Talk
Historic Saranac Lake Opens Exhibit ‘Pandemic Perspectives’
Historic Saranac Lake has opened a new exhibit titled, “Pandemic Perspectives,” featuring twelve panels placed throughout the museum inviting visitors to explore connections between their personal experience during the current pandemic and Saranac Lake’s history as a community that welcomed people suffering from infectious disease.
[Read more…] about Historic Saranac Lake Opens Exhibit ‘Pandemic Perspectives’
Humble Spirits of History Haunt Saranac Lake Laboratory
October is a good month for a ghost story. So here is the tale of a humble spirit who for years haunted a cure cottage up on Charles Street in Saranac Lake.
I heard this story from Eileen Black, who has lived in the house for many years and raised her family there. A ghost visited their home several times a year for decades. He would show up at the back walkway, walking towards the house, glancing in the windows. Well-dressed, in an elegant, old fashioned coat and fedora, he looked a bit like Fred Astaire, so the family named him, “Fred.” Eileen, her husband, and children all got used to Fred sightings. He would appear and then be gone, before they could get a good look at him. Guests at the house would see him too. They were never afraid of him; he felt like a friend. [Read more…] about Humble Spirits of History Haunt Saranac Lake Laboratory
Eddie Cantor, Will Rogers, William Morris and Saranac Lake
One of the things I am missing this summer is the theater. From Broadway in the city of New York to Pendragon Theatre in the Adirondacks and everywhere in between, stages have gone dark.
Actors are a lively, irrepressible bunch, and so it’s a testament to the seriousness of the ongoing pandemic that theaters are closed. [Read more…] about Eddie Cantor, Will Rogers, William Morris and Saranac Lake
Doctors in the Garden of Science
In a time when compassion and logic often seem in short supply, many of us have a newfound appreciation for doctors and scientists.
Saranac Lake, NY’s history is full of professionals in medicine and science who had a passion for learning and an intense curiosity about the natural world. [Read more…] about Doctors in the Garden of Science
Beyond Philately: In Praise of the Postal Carrier
In times of trouble, some of the most essential workers are the people who deliver the mail.
Here in the Adirondacks, where there are more trees than people, it can get lonely. Mail carriers keep us connected, and post offices in rural hamlets serve as social hubs. [Read more…] about Beyond Philately: In Praise of the Postal Carrier