Indholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2022 i Adirondack Life

STERN REMINDER I am approaching the first-year anniversary of my mother’s death. “Sterner Stuff” (April 2022) flooded me with memories of my own time spent with her family in Eckley, Pennsylvania. The parallels are uncanny and heartwarming. My mother’s grandfather also escaped from the Russian occupation of Lithuania and he married a young Polish girl in the small coal mining town. Every visit was an adventure into the past they were so proud of. They spoke in awe of the hard life and sacrifices made by people far stronger and braver than we are. And we listened to the stories told and retold until they became part of us. Thank you. Harry Fine  Upper Jay, NY WOLF NOTES Two points concerning your excellent article about wolves (“Return of the Wolves,”…

Who says you need train tracks to have a train? Though Inlet’s nearest railroad—the Raquette Lake Railway, which ran a couple of miles to the north—shut down in the 1930s, the community still boasts its own caboose. The red Grand Trunk Western car has been a Route 28 institution since 1994, when it rode the rails from Utica to Thendara, then hitched a truck ride to its new home. It was stationed on a short section of faux tracks, where it chugged along as a takeout joint called the Loose Caboose, and then, briefly, as the Moose Caboose, before closing in 2006. And there it sat, mostly idle, until Jill and Karl Marsh brought it out of retirement. The Marshes are transplants, too, though their family has been vacationing in…

LIKE HIS FATHER AND GRANDFATHER BEFORE HIM, Osmond D. Putnam was called by the ministry—unfortunately, it was a collect call. So, starting in 1885, the 24-year-old from the town of Johnsburg took his camera on the road, photographing neighbors in Essex, Warren and Saratoga Counties and selling the prints to his subjects. Over two years, Putnam produced scores of gelatin glass plate negatives with his 5x8 camera, though little more than 100 survive today. (The rest were destroyed in a fire.) Income from the portraits—minus his stage wagon fares—helped pay for seminary school. Putnam had close ties to Jeanne Robert Foster, née Julia Oliver, a model and writer who mingled with John Butler Yeats, Ezra Pound and T. S. Elliot. He taught her the basics of photography, which she would…

After I listened to one of historian Richard Nason’s lectures, I became obsessed with researching an aspect of his narrative. Nason, a retired Finch, Pruyn forester with a deep knowledge of the Adirondack logging industry, described a tree with a cross carved into its bark; the carving was thought to mark the death of a logger in the mid-20th century on the Upper Hudson River, near Newcomb. Eager to discover the story behind this logger who perished, I set off with a friend on a September morning to locate the tree, with a map, compass, GPS unit and general directions from Nason. We spent unsuccessful hours bush-whacking through brush and stands of hardwoods, startling both birds and deer. Tired and dispirited, we began to think about ending a fruitless search.…

The boy slipped. There had been a big rain the night before, so the river was higher than usual. In an instant he was swallowed by the Ausable’s current and flushed down the Jay rapids near the covered bridge. His father jumped in to help, but he too was powerless against the swift water. Moments later both father and son emerged beneath the bridge, where the rocks give way to a sandy stretch. They were banged up, but alive. My kids told me about this incident a couple of years ago—they’d been swimming upstream, in shallow flatwater before the East Branch of the Ausable tumbles over boulders. We live near the Jay rapids, so they’ve grown up hearing my Constant warnings and they've learned to watch the river, to never…

When I was a boy in the 1960s and ’70s, I had free run of an emptied-out Adiron-dack village, a ghost town in Hamilton County named Hope Falls, whose roug-hand-tumble boom times had passed decades before. The sawmills and tanneries were long gone, leaving behind a one-room schoolhouse, a tiny cemetery and a few homes. My grandparents, who had lived in Gloversville, bought the remnants of much of the little village during the Depression. They spent years building a modest stone house where I spent many weekends, hazy summer weeks, and snowy Christmases that forged ties to the Adirondacks that I still carry today. My grandfather died before I was born, but Gram stepped in as a surrogate mother after my own mom passed when I was five—teaching me how…

If you’re looking for a backcountry experience without all the bother, Cheney Pond, in the Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest, is your ticket to an easy-access paddle under the dark skies of deep wilderness. The little lake is just a half-mile walk (or drive, if you have a sturdy, high-clearance vehicle) from the trailhead, and there are a handful of camping spots, including one paddle-in site with a lean-to and a nice sandy beach. IF YOU GO: Take Exit 29 off I-87 and follow Blue Ridge Road toward Newcomb for approximately 13 and a half miles. Trailhead parking is on the left.…

BIG MOOSE LAKE, EAGLE BAY, NY 13331 The Waldheim. Seventeen cottages with fireplaces overlooking scenic Big Moose Lake. Established in 1904, The Waldheim has changed little since. Rates include three delicious meals served daily in a central dining room. Unstructured opportunities allow guests to relax, recreate or be with family. 315-357-2353. www.thewaldheim.com. BLUE MOUNTAIN LAKE, NY 12812 Steamboat Landing on Blue Mountain Lake. Built in 1886 as a boathouse for steamboats that brought passengers and freight to the big hotels that once existed on Blue Mountain Lake. Here, find a dedicated family of three who bring together hospitality, history and a space for guests to enjoy the Adirondacks. Steamboat has a variety of lakefront accommodations with updated kitchens & baths. Enjoy peaceful mornings, afternoons of exploring and spectacular evening sunsets.…