Indholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2023 i Adirondack Life

Sleigh bells ring—literally—at Hohmeyer’s Lake Clear Lodge in the wintertime. The retreat is an iconic Adirondack destination in all seasons; after all, it’s been welcoming guests since the 1880s, when it operated as a stagecoach inn and trading post. But from mid-December to mid-March the place ups its cozy game by offering lantern-lit sleigh rides and speakeasy dinner experiences, even for those not opting to overnight in the lodge or cabins. Revelers can snuggle under lap-blankets for a ride to the lake and back, gliding through the forest behind Percheron draft horses from Vermontville’s Lucky Clover Sleigh Rides, and maybe—if you bring that someone special—smooching under snow-topped boughs. To make the outing extra merry and bright, add a visit to the 1920s-era speakeasy (password required) to learn about the region’s…

Into the Unknown Samuel Champlain’s map of New France had traced his namesake waterway by the early 17th century, but the interior reaches of the Adirondack region remained a mystery well into the 1700s. Early cartographers left a blank space for much of the region, designating portions as Iroquois land and labeling others with some derivation of “wild” or “uninhabited.” That began to change by 1772, when a 1,150,000-acre slice of the void was filled in by Ebenezer Jessup’s survey of the Totten and Crossfield tract—though Paul Bourcier, author of History in the Mapping: Four Centuries of Adirondack Cartography, notes that relying on compasses and tree markers in thick wilderness led to a “number of cartographic errors” in the survey. Opening the Floodgates Between 1836 and 1840, Ebenezer Emmons—led…

Greg Rowe tinkers in his lab, harvesting the day’s selection of mushrooms—lion’s mane, Hungarian and grey dove oysters, and pioppini. A Keeseville native, Rowe always wanted to be a teacher. But the 1930s-era home economics classroom where he works hasn’t seen students since the 1970s. The blackboard is partly blocked by a shed-sized grow room. Another grow room sits in what was a boys’ locker room. Inside, mushrooms emerge in LED-lit clouds of cool mist, breathing life into the Adirondack food scene as well as the long-shuttered Keeseville High School. Rowe left his teaching job at Ausable Valley School two weeks before the coronavirus pandemic. He realized the traditional teaching system didn’t suit him, and he decided to consider other careers. In the meantime, he turned to the woods. He’d…

It’s incredibly important and incredibly unsexy.” After Sean O’Brien said it, I looked at the group of Adirondackers gathered around—mostly concerned citizens and scientists. If ever there was a crowd that thinks biodiversity is sexy, this was it. O’Brien had come to Lake Placid to talk about Nature-Serve, an organization that, he explained, “holds the infrastructure for fundamental information that allows decisions to be made about conservation.” It uses a standard data method so scientists know which plant, terrestrial animal and freshwater animal species in North America are imperiled. O’Brien repeated, “If we know what they are, and we know where they are, we can do something about them.” The threats to these species? Among them are habitat destruction, invasive species and climate change. Why does any of this matter?…

LAST SUMMER, when Gerry Delaney spoke at a public forum about the future of the Adirondack Park, the conservative councilman from the town of Saranac laid out a vision that’s become a startling new normal. He acknowledged deep policy divides while insisting that all the park’s factions embrace neighborliness and civility. “There are different interests between the environmental groups and local governments,” Delaney said. “But we all have to live together. When there’s a flood, a fire, a bad accident, we all come together.” The crowd in Elizabethtown applauded and the discussion quickly turned to a debate over wastewater treatment and regional planning. There was no name-calling. There were no threats. No one shouted or voiced conspiracy theories or stormed out of the room. To understand how remarkable that moment…

Maybe it’s just a whisper of woodsy that your family and friends prefer—representations of the natural world, earthy colors, materials that come from the forest. This season, if you’re searching for presents for your Adirondack-loving crew, read on for some of our favorite gift ideas inspired by the great outdoors. Woodland Salt and Pepper Shakers These pewter shakers from Vagabond House add whimsy to every tabletop. Choose between squirrels, moose, owls, acorns and mushrooms. $49–$135 available at Dartbrook Rustic Goods, Keene www.dartbrookrustic.com Cork Bags Katrina Winch and Kelly Gates’s Inspired by Kork line of bags are designed in St. Augustine, Florida, where the sisters currently live. But they grew up in Lake Placid and credit their Adirondack roots for their laid-back aesthetic. They say they were looking for a sustainable…

In the Books A lbert Alletag—a New York City butler who dabbled in photography—captured this early-20th-century Whiteface Mountain resident with “keep out” and “hands off” scrawled on his cabin. The photo—perhaps cheekily titled Camp Welcome—appears in Adirondack Photographers 1850–1950 (Syracuse University Press), by Sally Svenson, along with the stories and work of more than 200 other photographers. Also new to the bookshelf this year: the picture book Raccoons Go Rafting (Saratoga Springs Publishing), a fun-filled romp down the Hudson by former river guide Rachel Vogel; survival skill how-tos in Bushcraft Topics (independently published), by Adam Nestor; A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue (Riverbed Press), a thriller by Mary Carroll Moore that opens with a plane crash and rescue from Panther Gorge; the new edition of Hiking the Adirondacks (FalconGuides),…

Last spring we launched the My Adirondacks Project with our friends at the Adirondack Land Trust (ALT) because we were curious about what kids who live in or visit this place see and feel when they turn their attention to the natural world. We asked them to send us a photograph taken in the Adirondacks and tell us why what they captured matters to them. The kids delivered! We are thrilled to see new perspectives on a place we’ve covered every which way since 1969—always from adults’ perspectives. And for the folks at the ALT in the “forever business”—conserving today what will continue to benefit future generations—the hope for this project is that it fosters connections to nature for our next stewards of the Adirondacks. After all, childhood experiences shape…

Adirondack chronicler and biographer Maitland De Sormo described Seneca Ray Stoddard as “gentle, easy-going, (and) unassuming.” He was not above poking fun at himself; even when a life-threatening mishap was the subject of his humor. One of the emerging technologies that he helped pioneer in the 1890s was nighttime flash photography, using magnesium metal powder, which was flammable and dangerous. Sometimes his larger subjects required the brighter flash of actual gunpowder. Held aloft in a tray or cup to be ignited with an electric spark, the photographer had to trigger the flash and shutter simultaneously. Stoddard was the first photographer to capture the Washington Memorial Arch, on New York City’s Fifth Avenue, at night. He described the near-death experience in an interview with the photography editor of the New York…