Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2022 i Adirondack Life

The search for a “colporter missionary for the Adirondack Mountains” was advertised in Baptist newspapers as far west as Chicago in June 1904. Placed on behalf of the American Baptist Publication Society by the Lake George and the Essex and Champlain Baptist associations, the ad called for a man who understood horses, was “robust in health; an evangelistic preacher.” The successful candidate, it added, would be provided with a pair of horses (Paul and Silas), a wagon out-fitted with sleeping quarters as well as an organ for religious services and storage space for 300 to 400 books, a sleigh and an annual salary of $600. The word “colporter” (from the French “colporteur”) entered English usage in the late 18th century in reference to itinerant book-peddlers. Colporter missionaries, who combined preaching…

In the shadow of Fort Ticonderoga, on the shore of Lake Champlain, lies another extraordinary historic site—the Pavilion, a mansion with stunning gardens and a story intertwined with the fort’s 270-year saga. While Fort Ti draws more visitors each year than almost any other attraction within the Adirondack Park, the Pavilion has been mainly off-limits to the public for more than a century, visited mostly by pigeons and raccoons. Until now. Built in about 1826 as a summer residence for New York City merchant William Ferris Pell, the house, like the fort itself, has been rescued and restored. Pell bought the bones of the fort and surrounding grounds from Columbia and Union Colleges in 1820. They had inherited joint ownership of the property in 1803 from the state, which was…

PADDLE ON The Wild Center (518) 359-7800, www.wildcenter.org 45 Museum Drive, Tupper Lake To sample the paddling life without all the packing and planning, try a guided canoe trip through the Raquette River’s oxbow. The mile-long trips—which run once a day, every Saturday and Sunday through mid-October—are open to explorers of all abilities, ages four and up. Groups are led by Wild Center naturalists, who help families scout marshy habitats and catch glimpses of critters. Paddles, boats and life jackets are supplied; reservations are required. THE VIEW FROM HERE McCauley Mountain (315) 369-3225, www.mccauleyny.com 300 McCauley Mountain Road, Old Forge Climbing a High Peak isn’t the only way to score a dramatic view. You and your crew can soak in the beauty of the Fulton Chain of Lakes from the…

For much of the 20th century, country fairs were the Super Bowls of their communities. Fair buildings were temples, and the area rock stars were the farmers who raised the finest Ayrshire and Jersey heifers. At the 1929 iteration of the Essex County Fair, newspapers marveled at the “tent city” that blanketed Westport as country folk left their hills and dales to move in for the week. The fastest trotters and pacers arrived from throughout New England to compete on the fairground oval in front of a packed grandstand that still exists. National comedy acts kept the crowd in stitches, and baseball games, track-and-field meets and equipment demonstrations filled the time between the awarding of ribbons. Those filing into the fairgrounds in 1929 would have passed the five-year old Junior…

Why did the turtle cross the road? Wildlife rehabilitator Debbie Philp is less interested in the answer to that question than with what happens to them while they’re there. Cars are the number one cause of injuries to her patients at Dancing Turtle Rescue, a Schroon Lake–based non-profit that specializes in the rescue, rehab and, when possible, release of freshwater turtles back into the wild. Other common dangers for the reptiles, whose numbers are declining worldwide, include dog bites (pooches find painted turtles, shown above, particularly tasty) and fish hooks (removing a hook from a snapping turtle’s tongue can be tricky). Philp also fields calls from folks whose trips to the pet store have left them unprepared for turtle ownership. She says they often ask her, “Where’s a good place…

May 6th was the day when hundreds of swifts, traveling from South America, appeared in Northville’s skies in an inky puff of synchronicity. They swarmed the trees near Ray Hubbell’s glove factory and, at dusk, as if on cue from the heavens, filtered one by one into its brick chimney to nest for the night. By the 1950s the birds’ arrival was a local extravaganza accompanied by school bands and hot-dog vendors, remembers Sally Kirby, who grew up five blocks from the glove factory. Every evening the swifts repeated their chimney dive until they flew away in mid-August. Kirby says that almost 40 years ago, when her dad, Ervin Angell, was dying, all he wanted was to watch the swifts. “He couldn’t walk, so I got him into a wheelchair…

In the early 1970s my father, George Vespa, had a dream of opening an Italian restaurant in Lake Placid. After hiring a chef from New York City’s Little Italy, the Villa Vespa on Placid’s Saranac Avenue got its start. Over the years, my father made several trips to cooking schools in Europe, honing his kitchen skills and fine-tuning the recipes for the Villa Vespa. Throughout my young adult life, I worked alongside my father in the kitchen, learning the recipes and finding my own passion for food. The Villa was not just a place to get extraordinary food, it was where people came to get engaged, to celebrate graduations and birthdays and to bring a first date. It was the restaurant where you brought your kids. My parents, George and…

ONCE UPON A TIME, there was a larger-than-life man named Charles R. Wood—better known to all as Charley—who dedicated his life to fun. He strode onto the North Country’s mid-century scene with little more than a smile and a hammer, but managed to build an entertainment empire from scratch. Charley, who was born to a middle-class family near Buffalo in 1914, was a natural entrepreneur. Like any typical youngster, he started earning nickels and dimes with a paper route, but his schemes soon outgrew the typical. By the time he was in high school, he had the wherewithal to buy a home for his family and convert its carriage house to a rental apartment. But it wasn’t all about dollars and cents. Charley was a dreamer who’d tinker around with extravagant…

A framed T-shirt on the wall of the Newcomb Café—the only place in town to grab breakfast, lunch or a tank of gas—advertises “Beautiful Downtown Newcomb. Conveniently located in the middle of nowhere.” It’s not just a self-deprecating joke. Newcomb, a town of around 400 that’s at least a 20-minute drive from the nearest community, is conveniently located to the stuff that brings people to the Adirondacks. The first thing drivers heading west into town see is the Over-look, possibly the most breathtaking roadside panorama in the Blue Line, if not the Northeast. Want to hike? Head to the Upper Works trailhead, the southern gateway to the High Peaks; it’s not nearly as crowded as the trailheads in Keene Valley and Lake Placid. Like fire-tower summits? Newcomb has two. For…

FOR MOST ADIRONDACKERS, a trip to the local soft-serve stand is a ritual filled with nostalgia—summer isn’t complete without that cold, creamy cone. Last year, wearing elastic-waistband shorts, I took on a mission to visit soft-serve stands across the park. What I found were iconic landmarks with quirky charm, often the heart of their communities, and, of course, delicious ice cream. Join me—and the 10 pounds I gained in the name of research—on my sweet tour. Northern Lights Creamery Inc., Inlet NORTHERN LIGHTS, with its neon sign beckoning, is at Inlet’s epicenter and should be a stop for anyone passing through or, better yet, after a hike up nearby Bald Mountain. My kids and I dug into our ice cream, then, licking our fingers, walked to Arrowhead Park and took…

SUMMER WAS JUST ABOUT OVER. We’d squeezed in every hike, campfire and river float we could before the kids went back to school. Apparently, my teenage son and his friends felt the same panic, so they’d had a slumber party and pulled an all-nighter. The next afternoon, on our family’s camping finale, my son fell asleep as soon as we unloaded our gear. We had never glamped, but on that late-August day, our platform tent, with its sunny deck, cozy beds, woodstove and indoor plumbing, was a welcome upgrade. I’d wanted to check out Huttopia Adirondacks, in Lake Luzerne, all summer. We finally had our chance. Huttopia—“the pursuit of a holiday utopia”—originated in France about 20 years ago, when Celine and Philippe Bossanne sought to create a place for campers “without…

It’s early April, which is to say mud season in the Adirondacks. Too late for Winter 46ers; too early for the warm-weather crowd. But on a Zoom meeting, a dozen animated callers are discussing the future. The call is about the destiny of the Cascade Cross Country Ski Center, in Lake Placid. The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) recently paid $2.5 million for the 200-acre property, and wants to turn the winter resort, located just a few miles from the busiest trailhead in the Adirondacks, into a year-round information and education center. What do the members think? ADK is listening. One caller wants to make sure Cascade’s bar and café will remain open. Another wants to add skijoring (cross-country skiing powered by horse or dog). One suggests adding a birding program…