New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

North Elba

New Adirondack High Peaks Shuttles From North Hudson

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Frontier Town Campground, Equestrian and Day Use Area courtesy DECThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Essex County are launching a new shuttle route to help manage safe, sustainable visitation to backcountry destinations in the Adirondack High Peaks.

The new route builds on the existing Route 73 shuttles and will run on select summer and fall weekends from Frontier Town Gateway in North Hudson, to transportation to some of the region’s most scenic locations. [Read more…] about New Adirondack High Peaks Shuttles From North Hudson

A Constitutional Amendment Proposed for Mt. Van Hoevenberg

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Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports ComplexAn Article 14 Constitutional Amendment is being proposed for the Mt. Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex in the Adirondack Park outside Lake Placid.

At the Mt. Van Hoevenberg complex, the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) currently manages around 1,220 acres of Forest Preserve classified as Intensive Use by the Adirondack Park Agency (APA). Abutting these lands is 319 acres of land owned by the Town of North Elba.

Together this complex houses the Olympic bobsled and luge track, cross-country skiing and biathlon trails, and associated facilities, with most of the intensive buildings and facilities located on the town lands. These facilities have seen massive upgrades and state spending in preparation for hosting the World University Games in 2023. [Read more…] about A Constitutional Amendment Proposed for Mt. Van Hoevenberg

DOT Replacing Route 73 Barriers In Adirondack High Peaks

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nysdot logoNew York State Department of Transportation has announced that work is underway on a $8.3 million project to replace concrete barriers and portions of guide-rail along three segments of State Route 73 in the towns of Keene and North Elba, Essex County.

The project includes a stretch of Route 73 along Upper and Lower Cascade Lakes through the Adirondack High Peaks that is part of the annual Lake Placid Ironman course. Work will be completed by late fall, ahead of the Lake Placid 2023 International University Sports Federation World University Games coming this January. [Read more…] about DOT Replacing Route 73 Barriers In Adirondack High Peaks

New Name, Host for Lake Placid, Saranac Lake Farmers’ Markets

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Saranac Lake Farmers’ Market shoppers browse fresh produce grown by Fledging Crow VegetableThe weekly farmers’ markets in Lake Placid and Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks will continue to offer locally produced farm products and handmade goods — but under a new name and host organization.

The Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) announced that it will provide organizational support for the two markets under the newly dubbed “High Peaks Farmers’ Market.” ANCA will also hire a part-time manager to oversee the markets. [Read more…] about New Name, Host for Lake Placid, Saranac Lake Farmers’ Markets

Peter Bauer: It’s Time To Pass A Constitutional Amendment For Mount Van Hoevenberg

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Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports ComplexProtect the Adirondacks supports a proposed Article 14 Constitutional Amendment for the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex outside Lake Placid.

At the Mt. Van Hoevenberg complex, the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) currently manages around 1,220 acres of Forest Preserve classified as Intensive Use by the Adirondack Park Agency (APA). Abutting these lands is 319 acres of land owned by the Town of North Elba. Together this complex houses the Olympic bobsled and luge track, cross-country skiing and biathlon trails, and associated facilities, with most of the intensive buildings and facilities located on the town lands. [Read more…] about Peter Bauer: It’s Time To Pass A Constitutional Amendment For Mount Van Hoevenberg

The Last Days of John Brown: North Elba

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One of the familiar attacks on John Brown (and by extension his anti-slavery legacy) involves his failed business ventures and accusations that he was a swindler and a drifter, roaming from place to place – only briefly and uneventfully staying in North Elba, Essex County, NY.

“Over the years before his Kansas escapade Brown had been a drifter, horse thief and swindler,” Columbia University historian John Garraty once wrote. Garraty served as the president of the Society of American Historians and was co-author of the high school history textbook The American Nation (he died in 2007).

A closer look at Brown and the his family, however, reveals an experience typical of many Americans, then and today, and the importance of North Elba in Brown’s plans for a raid into Virginia. [Read more…] about The Last Days of John Brown: North Elba

The Last Days of John Brown: The Secret Six

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Franklin Benjamin SanbornJohn Brown has often come down to us as a lone nut, bent on an suicidal mission, but this is far from the truth.

Brown was part of a larger movement to free slaves that grew with passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (which required the return of escaped slaves to their masters with all its potential for torture and death at their hands) and the large Underground Railroad movement.

It’s little understood that Brown was intimate with northern politicians, industrialists, ministers, and folks from all walks of life, including the leading intellectuals of the era – the Transcendentalists. [Read more…] about The Last Days of John Brown: The Secret Six

The Last Days of John Brown: August 1859

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john brown illustrationThis is the story of the October 16, 1859 anti-slavery raid, during which John Brown led 19 men in an attack on the Harpers Ferry Armory.

He was afterward charged with murder, conspiring with enslaved people to rebel, and treason against Virginia (West Virginia was not yet a state) and after a week-long trial was sentenced to death in early November.

Brown was hanged on December 2nd (John Wilkes Booth snuck in to watch) and his body was afterward carried to North Elba in Essex County, NY to “moulder in his grave.” [Read more…] about The Last Days of John Brown: August 1859

NY’s Voter Suppression History & John Brown’s Farm

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John Brown Farm courtesy John Brown LivesThis year we are celebrating New York State’s acquisition of John Brown Farm 125 years ago. And it’s good that we are.

But let us also recall a 200th anniversary linked to the John Brown Farm – a connection that has particular importance this year as we witness a voter suppression spree around our country. Two hundred years ago, that was us – our New York ancestors – enacting explicit rules to keep blacks from voting.

John Brown and his family moved to the Adirondacks as part of an effort to counteract New York State-sponsored suppression of voting rights for black men.

We are now seeing a wave of voter suppression efforts in states controlled by Republican legislators fearful of losing their majority power. Well, guess what? That’s exactly what was going on here in good old New York back in the early 1800s. We New Yorkers apparently were leaders in voter suppression. We even put it into the state constitution! That’s more than the states are doing today. [Read more…] about NY’s Voter Suppression History & John Brown’s Farm

Timbuctoo: An Adirondack African American Settlement

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a new york minute in history podcastIn this episode of the A New York Minute In History podcast, the history of Timbuctoo, an African American settlement founded by philanthropist Gerrit Smith in response to an 1846 law requiring all black men to own $250 worth of property in order to vote in New York State.

To counter this racist policy, Smith decided to give away 120,000 acres of land to 3,000 free, black New Yorkers, hoping to enable them to move out of cities and work the land to its required value. Lyman Epps and other black pioneers relocated to the wilderness near Lake Placid, New York — as did abolitionist John Brown, who based his family in North Elba to assist the black pioneers in their farming. [Read more…] about Timbuctoo: An Adirondack African American Settlement