History, Natural History & the Arts
Students who travel from foreign countries to work on Lake George face a scarcity of affordable, safe housing, according to Mayor Bob Blais.
As a founder of the Student Connection, a group established to help foreign workers resolve issues related to their employment, Blais has promoted initiatives to improve the stock of available housing, from inspecting facilities to posting listings from landlords. [Read more…] about Lake George Village Eyes International Student Dorm
New York State and local community leaders recently announced initiatives planned for the 2022 outdoor recreation season designed to protect public safety and promote sustainable recreation in the Adirondack and Catskill Parks.
Many of these actions, bolstered by $8 million from the State Environmental Protection Fund specifically for Adirondack and Catskill visitor safety and wilderness protection in the recently enacted 2022-23 State Budget, support a strategy to improve safety, sustainability, and equitable access. [Read more…] about State Forest Preserve Visitor Use Management Plans for 2022 Season
New 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
The New York State Tourism Industry Association has announced the 2022 NYS Tourism Conference “Transformational Tourism Stewardship: Strategies & Implementation,” is set for April 20th, 21st and 22nd in Westchester. [Read more…] about NYS Tourism Industry Association 2022 Conference
For myriad reasons — perhaps most importantly the influence of the fortress hotels — the amusement park was never a big part of Sullivan County’s tourism industry.
There have been numerous attempts in the county over the years to capitalize on America’s love affair with places like Coney Island’s Luna Park, Disneyland, and Palisades Park, but none that succeeded for more than a few years. [Read more…] about Monticello Amusement Park: Some History
As part of the bipartisan omnibus spending package signed by President Joe Biden on March 15, 2022 the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission was reauthorized to 2037.
The Commission manages the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, which was established by Congress in 2000. The Corridor spans 524 miles across the full expanse of the upstate New York. It includes the Erie, Cayuga-Seneca, Oswego, and Champlain Canals and their historic alignments. The Corridor encompasses 4,834 square miles in 23 counties and is home to 3.2 million people. [Read more…] about Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Reauthorized to 2037
The New York State Canal Corporation, through the Reimagine the Canals initiative, and the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor are launching a new competitive grant program to support tourism and recreation along the New York State Canal System, including canal waterways and Canalway Trail.
The 2022 program will provide funding to support tourism infrastructure and amenity improvements, and events. [Read more…] about Canal System Tourism Infrastructure, Events Grants Available
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 latest episode of Empire State Engagements features a conversation with Marisa Scheinfeld on her book The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2016).
She discussed her work as a historian and photographer to document and convey the history, ruins, nature, pathos, and possibility of the shuttered Catskill resorts that transformed Jewish American history and helped form twentieth-century U.S. popular culture. [Read more…] about Back To The Borscht Belt: Jewish Vacationland Ruins in the Catskills
It’s likely that the early farmers, millers, colliers, lumberers and teamsters helped spread the word of the springs and waterfalls on the Poesten Kill, but it was the early artists and travelers whose record remains. One of the first depictions of the beauties of the Poesten Kill High Falls was an engraving made in Paris in 1817. As the 19th century wore on, changing attitudes about nature combined with regional guides and maps led to increase in American travel for travels sake. [Read more…] about ‘Wild, Picturesque and Beautiful’: Mount Ida, Poestenkill Falls and Troy’s Prospect Park