Johnsburg

Man Charged With Building Camp in Siamese Ponds Wilderness Area

February 23, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

According to a press release issued by the New York state Department of Conservation, Forest Ranger Perryman issued tickets to a Saratoga County man on charges of damaging trees, storing personal property, and erecting a structure on State land in the in Siamese Ponds Wilderness Area.

The 114,010-acre Wilderness is one of the larger wilderness areas in the Adirondack Park. It includes a mix of mountains and waters where hiking, camping, fishing and hunting are the most popular activities. [Read more…] about Man Charged With Building Camp in Siamese Ponds Wilderness Area

Poetry: “Gotcha One Donut!”

February 19, 2022 by Edward Zahniser Leave a Comment

“Gotcha One Donut!”

I was deemed too young for the expedition.
My bro Matt was the leader by seniority. He
had eight years on me but only six on the
two Tommys, one Sennet and one Taylor,
Cub Schaefer, and John Hitchcock who lived
year-round on Edwards Hill Road, halfway
to the hamlet of Bakers Mills from our cabin. [Read more…] about Poetry: “Gotcha One Donut!”

New Effort to Promote Western Warren County’s “First Wilderness” Heritage Underway

February 6, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Warren County Department of Planning and Community Development has launched a collaboration with Cliff & Redfield Interactive (CRI), a Saratoga Springs-based rich-media communications organization, for a year-long campaign to promote community development and heritage tourism in the First Wilderness Heritage Corridor of western Warren County. [Read more…] about New Effort to Promote Western Warren County’s “First Wilderness” Heritage Underway

The Thirteenth Lake Hotel: A History

January 30, 2022 by Dave Waite 10 Comments

In the summertime, the parking lot at the end of Thirteenth Lake Road in the town of Johnsburg, Warren County, will be crowded with the cars and trucks of people there to hike, paddle, and camp.

Few of these visitors realize that sixty years ago when they stood on the shore, they would have seen a large, modern-looking hotel sitting on the hillside overlooking the lake. This is the story of that enterprise and those who kept it up and running for over 100 years. [Read more…] about The Thirteenth Lake Hotel: A History

New State Land Purchase In Warren County Includes Climbing Access

May 13, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

New York State has acquired 1,263 acres of land in the Warren County town of Johnsburg in the Southern Adirondacks. The parcel includes Huckleberry Mountain, an elongated peak that tops 2,400 feet, with spectacular cliffs on the ridge’s south and southwest face. The parcel is now part of the Adirondack Forest Preserve, and is expected to become part of the Wilcox Lake Wild Forest.

In 1911 Huckleberry Mountain was proposed as a site for a massive dam.

Last Unprotected Shoreline of Thirteenth Lake Protected

December 31, 2020 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

The Adirondack Land Trust has conserved the last unprotected shoreline on Thirteenth Lake, a headwater of the Upper Hudson River and the largest water body surrounded by the Siamese Ponds Wilderness.

The lake is located in the Adirondack Park in Johnsburg, Warren County. [Read more…] about Last Unprotected Shoreline of Thirteenth Lake Protected

The First (Short Lived) Suspension Bridge Across The Hudson River

December 17, 2020 by Mike Prescott 1 Comment

Robert Codgell Gilchrist was born into an extremely wealthy well-connected Charleston family in 1829. The oligarchic families of South Carolina had made their wealth on tobacco, rice, indigo, and shipping and Charleston harbor was one of the centers of the southern slave trade. Robert Gilchist’s father had received a federal Judgeship from President Martin Van Buren and he owned an opulent home.

Each summer the wealthy Gilchrist family journeyed north to avoid the hot humid subtropical summers of Charleston. They stayed with maternal family members in the Great Northern Wilderness of New York. (The term Adirondacks is said to have been first used by geologist and surveyor Ebenezer Emmons in 1838 and took some time to come into general use). [Read more…] about The First (Short Lived) Suspension Bridge Across The Hudson River

New Evidence About Cannon Found In Adirondacks

July 7, 2015 by Glenn Pearsall 4 Comments

The story goes that, in the summer of 1970, a Town of Johnsburg highway crew was straightening a Garnet Lake Road near Crane Mountain in Northern Warren County in the Adirondacks. While removing some of the ancient corduroy logs that once carried the road across a swampy section, they discovered what appeared to be an old cannon.

Vincent Schaefer had the cannon dated at the Watervliet Arsenal and it was determined that it was a swivel gun of the type probably used by Benedict Arnold’s troops during the battle of Valcour Island. [Read more…] about New Evidence About Cannon Found In Adirondacks

Adirondack History: John Thurman And Elm Hill

September 15, 2014 by Glenn Pearsall 1 Comment

The Townships of Johnsburg and Thurman were named for John Thurman when Warren County was split off from Washington County in 1816. Beyond the boundaries of these two townships, however, few have heard of him or his accomplishments.

The story of John Thurman is an important chapter in the history of the Adirondacks. For too many, Adirondack history is limited to the great camps, guide boats, and environmental protection. Yet there is so much more.

For hundreds of years the Adirondacks were a dark and dangerous place; anyone traveling through the area had best be well-armed. However, after the American Revolution the Adirondacks became, for the first time, a land of great opportunity, ready for exploration and commercial enterprises. [Read more…] about Adirondack History: John Thurman And Elm Hill