Lake George in Videos - 1939 and 1966

I get way too excited about this stuff.

How incredibly cool is this?! I found a home-movie-travelogue of a trip from NYC to Storytown USA in Lake George from 1966. This video looks so much like my early childhood, it scares me. Clothes and all. Did everybody's mom look like that? Also, a home movie from Lake George Village circa 1939. The footage in both of these is just incredible, the video transfer and editing is great, and the vintage music is awesome.





Storytown USA (with the addition of some rollercoasters, a water park, and $7 hotdogs) is now Great Adventure's "The Great Escape." It's my understanding that some of designer Arto Monaco's structures from other (now defunct) parks have been moved to Great Escape over the years. The other surviving Monaco park is the Santa-themed "North Pole" in Wilmington. Structures from Monaco's "The Land of Makebelieve" in the Town of Jay are being restored by an Arto Monaco group that locals curiously know very little about.

Alpine Air as Antiseptic

I love a good Adirondack book. Especially when it doesn't take the sunshiniest possible Tourist Board approach. (Except for that Gardens, Adirondack Style book - I liked that one anyway. And my friend is in it.)

In 1890, the New York Times said, "The Summer visitors are gone, the hunting season is nearly over, the forests are rapidly losing their Autumn foliage ... yet this village is not deserted. On the contrary, it is more full of people than it ever was before."

The town of Saranac Lake was built up around an industry. Curing Tuberculosis, oddly enough - around the research of Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau, who believed that fresh mountain air, hearty food, and plenty of rest somehow cured TB.

I'm now re-reading the excellent Portrait of Healing by Victoria E. Rinehart.



Written by a nurse and educator who teaches Medical History on the university level, I like the approach - well written, and from a history lover's perspective to boot. Sure, it's a little poetic, and there are luminous passages about Dr. Trudeau and the saintly nurses; but everything is well done, and after all, we do tend to romanticize Consumption. I think that's Garbo's fault.

Point is, the book lays out the facts and presents them in a well-spoken manner. Great pictures too.

Two elements that make it tops - It brings new information to the table, and the perspective is fresh. I read a lot of this stuff, and much of it is old news. What makes Rinehart's take so original is this - She serves up Saranac Lake stories specifically from nurses, doctors, and patients - a "Real Life Stories from the Sanatorium" sort of thing.

Another thing that I like very much - It debunks the "cure" mythology. Rinehart makes much sense of it - Trudeau was not so much curing folks as he was putting them completely at rest and fortifying worn immune systems, allowing bodies to do what they do best ... cure themselves.



Patients on the outdoor Cure Porch at Childs Memorial Infirmary
in Saranac Lake

Adirondackus Interruptus

How do I spell disappointment? WNET.

You see, I'm down in the city right now. Channel Thirteen WNET is New York City's PBS affiliate.

In their infinite wisdom, one of the largest PBS operations in the country decided to run the two hour special, "The Adirondacks" a little over a week after the rest of the country - on Thursday, May 22 - rather than tonight, when most everyone else is seeing it. Particularly odd, especially considering The New York Times printed a review today, and Yahoo and other television listings for the New York City area confirm that it would be running tonight. Of course, WNET's website does say otherwise; but after checking Yahoo TV for my zip code, looking in the local TV Guide, and reading the Times, I hardly thought I had to look it up elsewhere.

Way to bring up the rear, Channel Thirteen. You suck.

I have to mention - It was particularly strange to be anticipating a well-publicized special about the Adirondacks, and then hear an announcer introduce a show about 60 years of the State of Israel.

Speaking of Strange ...

I'm in midtown Manhattan this afternoon meeting a friend to see a matinee of the new Broadway musical/not-a-musical "Passing Strange." (Free tickets.) I'm in midtown so rarely, I forget how crowded it can get. This is the lunchtime gang in Bryant Park. (Click the pic to make it bigger.) The number of people eating lunch in this park is greater than the entire population of our Adirondack hamlet.

That's the backside of the Main Branch of the New York Public Library in the background. (The one with the lions in front. Their names are "Patience" and "Fortitude.") The Main Branch holds thousands and thousands of rare volumes and some pretty awe-inspiring reading rooms. The archives extend a few floors underground the building and spread out underneath the park.

The Empire State Building rises above the park's trees eight blocks downtown. I didn't take a pic 'cause I figured it's a pretty tired subject. But as I turned my back and walked around to the avenue, I caught a neat reflection in an office building.

"The Adirondacks" New York Times Review

Very interesting and well-spoken New York Times review on PBS's new two-hour special on The Adirondacks. Most PBS stations will be running "The Adirondacks" this evening. I'll be watching. Below is the full text from the review.



A Mountain Paradise and Paradox
By Mike Hale
May 14, 2008

“The Adirondacks,” a two-hour special on most PBS stations on Wednesday night, offers a little history, a little culture and a whole lot of gorgeous, gauzy travelogue: misty mountain lakes, organic arugula at luxury resorts and straight-faced eco-spiritual narration (“the great green empire of leaves that took all spring and summer to build”). Watching it, some city dwellers will want to gag, and quite a few others will want to book a weekend on Saranac Lake.

The producers of the documentary, which include the PBS station WNED in Buffalo and Toronto, are clearly trying to drum up some business for the economically stagnant towns of New York State in the 6.1 million acres of Adirondack Park, the largest in the continental United States. (A graphic demonstrates that it could contain Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier and Grand Canyon National Parks with room to spare.)

And therein lies a paradox: if too many of us hopped in our cars and headed up the Thruway, we would threaten the unusual balance between publicly protected wilderness and private land that — along with the advent of cheap air travel — has preserved the park as an idyllic backwater for decades.

If the development issue is what interests you, tune in during the second hour, when the film looks at the fight over a proposed condo-and-resort complex near the town of Tupper Lake. You’ll learn that the park was created, and its public areas mandated to be “forever kept as wild,” for commercial rather than aesthetic reasons. Furious logging in the late 1800s threatened to play havoc with water levels downstream in the Hudson River and the Erie Canal.

More than a century later, neighbors argue at public hearings about the spirit of the law and the future of their shrinking towns. Viewers can decide which of the film’s talking heads is right: the environmentalist and writer Bill McKibben, who expresses optimism, or the public radio reporter Brian Mann, who is based in the Adirondacks and worries that in 20 years the towns will have vanished.

The rest of the film, which suffers from a Chamber of Commerce-level script but looks great, treats us to shots of picturesque main streets, lavish new museums, the “great camps” of 19th-century industrialists and a panoply of outdoor pursuits, including an annual 90-mile boat race (no motors allowed). We also hear an adage that just might keep you from doing your part for the local economy: the Adirondacks have two seasons, winter and the Fourth of July.

THE ADIRONDACKS

On most PBS stations on Wednesday night (check local listings).

Produced by WNED Buffalo/Toronto and Working Dog Productions. Written, directed and produced by Tom Simon for Working Dog Productions; John Grant, executive producer for WNED; Peter Nelson, director of photography; Sak Costanzo, editor; music by Michael Bacon; Russ Harris, narrator.

review via www.nytimes.com
visit the special's site at www.pbs.org/theadirondacks/

That Dreaded Unleaded

A few very reliable sources from over in the Champlain Valley tell me gas has recently been siphoned and stolen from parked vehicles after dark in Jay, Keene, and Etown. (Also reported via the Jay News Service, a community listserv for the town of Jay, located at www.jaynews.org.)

Seems sudden, all these reports at once. While I don't wonder about the authenticity of the actual incidents, I do wonder why the issue went over the top at this particular point. Why would $3.80 per gallon encourage the siphon-minded any more than $3.30 per gallon? Does that fifty cents embody the mental price break that sends Adirondack gas suckers out into the night?

I doubt it.



I suspect this is more media-related. Gas prices are in the news. People are angry. The topic is covered ad nauseum, and it certainly would be easy (if you were so inclined) to put gas theft stories into practice. Hell, all you need is a siphon. Or a garden hose if you want to go the bargain route. Or perhaps, does this happen all the time and we're now hearing about it because it's good copy?

Might be time to bring back those locking gas caps from the 1970s. Or get a big dog.




pumps photo courtesy of www.abc.net.au

Happy M's Day, Moms!

The Mouse's Gallery, #1

I think I've discovered a new topic I might like to post about each week - old Adirondack images, postcards and such.

For our inaugural entry, here pictured are the Robert Louis Stevenson Cottage in Saranac Lake, a 1989 Edward Hueber photograph of the lobby at the Lake Placid Club, an early Saranac Lake Ice Palace, a view of Saranac Lake's Union Depot from the horse and buggy days, and an awesome postcard of the shortest standard gauge railroad in the world, at Raquette Lake.

Click the photo for a larger view.

Informative and Educational Adirondack SIgns

Heck, who doesn't love a good sign? Amusing or just plain awesome, here's a collection of fun signs. To the best of my knowledge, these are all "real." (I steered clear of giftshop-type signs.) Disclaimer - They're not mine. Please check out the list of sources at the bottom of the page. I'll try to add a few more over the next few days - please feel point to me any of your favorites and I'll post 'em.













Might have to order my own sign soon. I've been agonizing for a year about naming the house. City-Person naming their country place - it just seems pretentious. And besides, I've been having a bit of trouble coming up with a nice name - the cutseypie monikers drive me nuts. (As far as I can see, there must be several hundred cottages adorably named "The Last Resort" in every single vacation area from here to Oregon ... and "Wits End" probably comes in a close second.)






clare&carl's via www.landscapists.blogspot.com
spruce motel via www.landscapists.blogspot.com)
(also visit www.landscapist.squarespace.com/
danger via www.joeduck.files.wordpress.com
crossroads via mike z's photostream at flickr.com
entering the adirondacks via www.nygeo.org
snow trail signs via www.the-boogiemen.com

I am a Hillbilly

I grew up in a friendly, sparsely populated rural area. Human nature being what it is, I naturally sought out one of the most aggressive and heavily populated cities on the face of the Earth (literally) to make my way as an adult. And then last year, we bought a place in the Adirondacks in a village no one has ever head of. Perhaps we return to our roots more quickly than we realize. Honestly, even 20 years in New York City often found me fussing around with trees in the local nature preserve (we do have those in NYC) or sitting in weeds on a sand dune.

For the life of them, my Adirondack friends cannot figure out why we bought a house in one of the least populated and most countrified hamlets in the Adirondack Park. (Subjective, of course.) In fact, most Adk residents have never heard of it. I never really formulated a particular reason why we bought there. I usually just answer, "Because I like it." Needless to say, I endure endless cracks about my phone being at the top of an electric pole. (Those "Green Acres" jokes never get old, do they?)



A friend from one of the more monied towns told us, "Be careful over there. They might eat your dog." He can be rather uppity, but I did think that particular crack was kinda funny. But rural Franklin County suits me. It's a combination of things I guess. I like to putter, I like to be left alone, I like the lakes, and I especially like Black Pond out by Paul Smith's.

Fact is, our hamlet actually is rather "Green Acres." And a smarter, more friendly lot I have never met. In fact, we bought our lovable dump of a house largely because we liked several of the folks in the hamlet. Iffy investment? Maybe. Perhaps I decide things based too much on how they feel. However, our co-hamleters are nice to us, they are not prejudiced, they go out of their way to help us out, I learn a lot from them, they love local history, and they are thrilled someone nice bought the place. And we're thrilled to be in their company.

The place isn't worth much on the books, but hell, that keeps our taxes down. We'd never sell it anyway. And I suppose I'd rather be happy than rich. Of course, that's coming from a poor hillbilly, so you'd expect as much.




green acres photo courtesy of www.epguides.com
ocean photo courtesy of www.christorchaos.com

Rails to Trails and Lack of Ticket Sales

I was going to delete this post after I realized I had potentially offended. (Via being publicly critical of a few viewpoints in other local blogs to which I should have linked directly - Thanks to those who wrote.) Try as I might, my browser and Blogger are not canoodling well enough to create direct links. I dunno.

An-ee-how. I decided to keep the post up. The intelligent and well-spoken observations in the Comments Section easily warrant keeping the post up on their own merit. Please check them out, and please visit those blogs (also listed in this post and at the bottom.) Finally, do keep in mind, I did preface the post by mentioning that mine is "a rambling and little-informed opinion." Along those lines, please also keep in mind, this is not a newspaper. It's a personal (though public) blog. A rather nasty comment that seemed to think this is a democracy was deleted. I get fussy sometimes. =)


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Rails to Trails and Lack of Ticket Sales

And snowmobiles. Ladies and Gentlemen ... A rambling and little-informed post on rails, trails, and snowmobiles.

Adirondack Almanac advocates a light rail system for the Adirondacks, what with gas prices and all. That sounds pretty awesome to me, especially as someone who rents cars and uses Adirondack Trailways. Adirondack Trailhead comments, "Only if they can pay for themselves. Otherwise, Rails-to-Trails, non-motorized is the way to go."

I do appreciate the politeness, but let's call a trail a trail and be done with it.

We all know that there is absolutely no way that local and tourist traffic could even support a tiny percentage of what a light rail system would cost annually, let alone building costs. Hell, I don't know that much about it, and even I know that most light rail systems are largely subsidized to the tune of millions a year - even in heavily populated cities with millions of riders.



Also in the "Let's Call a Trail a Trail" Department, isn't that what they largely are already? Or is Franklin County an anomaly? In my neck of the woods, we already use the old rail beds as trails, and I'm not talking about just a few of us. Or maybe that's the point. Or maybe non-motorized is the point. I don't know what I think about that either. I certainly have friends that responsibly own snowmobiles. And I am certainly more than sick of irresponsible snowmobilers tearing up my property and running over my young trees. Anyhow, back to the trains -

Our local railroads were shuttered largely for lack of use and lack of passengers. Car Culture took over. Call me pessimistic, but I do not believe that tourists are going to leave behind their cars in favor of mass transit any more than I believe that locals (other than me and a few old ladies) are going to leave the auto at home and shop on Main Street.

The tourist railroads are another thing entirely. That has more to do with preserving history, which as regular readers know, I am all for. Not sure how many millions I would commit to it, but it's a nice idea. I dunno. How much is our history worth? I do know that the tourist railroads have nothing to do with mass transit. Unless you want to pay $18 round-trip from Lake Placid to Saranac Lake. Plus the subsidies in tax dollars.

Even with gas prices, driving sure sounds cheaper. Sucks, eh?

Please visit both Adirondack Trailhead and Adirondack Almanac via the links list at right for more on these topics.




photo (c)2003 leo torsy, courtesy of www.53a-pix.co.uk

Cabin in the House

There's a lot of indoor camping going on over here in Southern Franklin County! Our immediate neighbor built a new barn/garage/shed out back so she'll have a place to stay over while she's rebuilding her house. Last year, our other neighbor moved into her garage for the Summer while she built a new place.

No choice but to follow suit! As I'd mentioned, we cleaned up one room and put up planks with the same idea in mind - a (fairly) clean place to sleep and hang out while the house is being worked on around us. This weekend, we added our little stove, a cot, a portabale water heater, and some other camping gear - washtub and all! Here's a few snaps of the indoor campsite - pretty cozy!