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John Brown Tract

Logging the Adirondack Interior, Spurring Preservation (1840-60)

May 25, 2022 by Noel Sherry Leave a Comment

One of the most satisfying pastimes for me at our summer home on Twitchell Lake in Big Moose in the Adirondacks in Northern Herkimer County), was taking the camp guide boat out for a spin. That privilege was earned by passing the family test, a solo swim across the lake, about the distance of a football field.

Weighing just over 30 pounds, this unique 14-foot wooden craft sped through the water powered by two oars. A cabin shelf still displays several awards for winning the annual guide boat race. I fondly remember the one-mile hikes to neighboring Oswego Pond, trailing my older brother Burt carrying that guide boat on his shoulders using a hand-carved yoke, my father in the lead bearing the oars and fishing gear. [Read more…] about Logging the Adirondack Interior, Spurring Preservation (1840-60)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondacks, Beaver Falls, Beaver River, Big Moose, Big Moose Tract, Black River, Cultural History, Environmental History, fishing, Herkimer COunty, Industrial History, John Brown Tract, Labor History, Lewis County, Logging, Moose River, Totten Crossfield Tract, Transportation History, Twitchell Lake

Deep In The Adirondack Woods, A Colvin Survey Benchmark Revealed

September 15, 2021 by Noel Sherry 4 Comments

1. Picture of Frank Tweedy, courtesy of Special Collections, Schaffer Library, Union College, 1875 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

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Big Moose, Big Moose Lake, Frank Tweedy, Hamilton County, John Brown Tract, Pigeon Lake Wilderness, surveying, Totten Crossfield Tract, Twitchell Lake, Verplanck Colvin

Rediscovering An Ancient Adirondack Survey Monument

December 29, 2020 by Noel Sherry 7 Comments

C1 Colvin's TwnShp 42-41 Corner MapRight out of college as a Civil Engineer, Frank Tweedy spent four seasons as part of Verplanck Colvin’s Southwest Division, producing six  topographically accurate maps of the Beaver River basin and the important Totten and Crossfield Tract border with Brown’s Tract.

His maps and field books received high marks from his boss, and they recorded several moments of exciting discovery on his part, first as he closed ranks with the Eastern Division crew, completing a survey Line from Lowville to Lake Champlain; and then with shouts of victory at finding “The Great Corner” of Totten & Crossfield’s million-acre land Purchase. [Read more…] about Rediscovering An Ancient Adirondack Survey Monument

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Adirondacks, Beaver River, Brown's Tract, Frank Tweedy, hiking, John Brown Tract, nature, surveying, Totten Crossfield Tract, Twitchell Lake, Verplanck Colvin, Wildlife

Hiram Burke, Noted Adirondack Guide of Twitchell Lake

May 5, 2020 by Noel Sherry 3 Comments

Burke Shanty on Twitchell LakeMany of the lakes in John Brown’s Tract had guides who took their sporting parties to their own fishing or hunting camps north and south of the Beaver River. This is how lakes like Hitchcock, Beach, and Salmon got their names. [Read more…] about Hiram Burke, Noted Adirondack Guide of Twitchell Lake

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondack Park, Adirondacks, Big Moose, Frank Tweedy, John Brown Tract, Lewis County, Lowville, Twitchell Lake

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