Month: August 2010

Train Sparks Wilderness Heritage Corridor Events

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July 17th marked the beginning of Upper Hudson River Railroad’s two-train Saturdays, when both morning and afternoon trains are scheduled, taking passengers northward in the morning to enjoy not only the scenic excursion by rail, but also allowing them to enjoy an outing in one of the First Wilderness Heritage Corridor communities along the route. These Saturday offerings will continue through August 21st.

Corinth
Saturday passengers in Corinth will have an opportunity to board a bus about an hour before train time for a short tour of the city, and then take the train north, over the 94-foot high trestle crossing near the confluence of the Hudson and Sacanadaga at Hadley.

Hadley
Guests choosing to spend the day in Hadley and Lake Luzerne get off the train at the Rockwell Street Stop and may walk or ride a horse-drawn carriage (free to those with train tickets) to historic sites, a museum, and a gallery. Those craving action might opt for a rafting trip.

Stony Creek
The train chugs to its next stop, 1000 Acres Ranch Resort, in Stony Creek, where special Saturday options are offered &#8212- special golf or riding packages coupled with a buffet lunch. Other will opt to board a van for &#8220A Touch of the Wild,&#8221 a tour that explores an old farm, dines at the Stony Creek Inn and then visits Wolf Pond Stables to observe special horse/rider communication and training methods.

Thurman
The train’s northern terminus is Thurman, where passengers may indulge in the &#8220Forest, Farm and Country Fixin’s Tour.&#8221


Forest, Farm & Country Fixin’s Escape
Escape to the little mountain town of Thurman, NY, aboard a van that will take you to hidden sites waiting to be discovered. Open to those arriving on Upper Hudson River Railroad and those arriving by own vehicle. Those interested must reserve a spot by noon on Friday, the day before the tour. Ideally, one obtains a prepaid online registration. Those without Internet availability may phone 518-623-9595. One fee covers van, sites, luncheon, tax and gratuity. (To reserve a train ticket visit www.uhrr.com.) Tour vans depart Thurman Station 10:30 a.m. (or as soon as UHRR passengers detrain). If you tour, you’ll visit first: Martin’s Certified Tree Farm. You’ll see a sawmill in operation and learn how today’s foresters conserve wood and protect the woodlands they depend upon. Sustainable forestry ensures that there will be lumber for future generations. You’ll take a walk in the woods and learn how the Martins selectively cut their trees, seeking out just the right ones to use for the various products in their line – dimensional lumber, Adirondack (waney edge) siding, bar tops, signs and more. The Martins take the stewardship of their woodlands very seriously.

But Martin’s Lumber is not all work and no play- you’ll see the artistic efforts known as “Lucyann’s Stained Glass Stepping Stones” and “Lucyann’s Paper Bead Earrings,” complete with demonstrations of how they are created. Shop for your favorites.

Next arrive at nationally publicized Nettle Meadow Farm & cheese-making facility~ Take a moment to sample some of the fruits of their labors—the cheeses. Then you may shop for gourmet chevre with such enticing flavors as lemon verbena, maple walnut, pumpkin spice, herb, pepper and garlic. Or, if your taste runs to semi-aged cheese, check out the Kunik, Crane Mountain and Three Sisters. All are frozen for easy, safe transporting home. When you arrive, Nettle Meadow staff will take you on a guided tour to meet the members fo the herd that produces Nettle Meadow’s cheese, the comical goats that throng to the fence to say hello, each with its own name. There’s a sizable flock of sheep, too, and llamas who guard smaller pasture-mates from coyotes and other predators. You’ll meet some sanctuary animals taken in by Nettle Meadow, and your tour fee helps to sustain them. Then it’s on to The Glen Lodge & Market, a B&B with Adirondack Great Camp ambiance where you’ll enjoy “country fixin’s” under a pavilion. You’ll applaud the green efforts of The Glen Lodge, recently recognized by Audubon Green Leaf™ certification. They use bio fuel in their vehicles, environmentally-friendly products in the lodge, and support wind generated electricity.

Extra time after you eat? You’re within walking distance of the Hudson and Wild Waters Outdoor Center. Or wander through the garden on your way to browse in the gift shop. Van returns to Thurman Station by 3 p.m. Questions? Ask [email protected] or phone 518-623-9595. See more details online.

The First Wilderness Heritage Corridor tours and special activities this summer add a new dimension to tourism in the Lake George Region, showcasing some of our historically important assets and allowing guests to enjoy traditional Adirondack hospitality. It is important to note that all activities involving a van ride require prepaid online registration. Those interested may find all details and contact information at www.thurmanstation.com/Adirondack_Foothill_Tours.html.

Historic Huguenot Family Reunion, Early History Event

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Many in the Hudson Valley know of Historic Huguenot Street as a unique place. The architecture, the setting, the sense of timelessness within our modern, busy world – it is true that all of these things distinguish the site. Equally special though is the fact that descendants of the community’s founders and early leaders are still very much involved with and drawn to the Street. More continue to visit the site each year.

Embracing this, Historic Huguenot Street is hosting a “family reunion” for descendants and those interested in the special early history of the site. The Gathering, as the event is called, will be held from Friday, August 13th to Sunday, August 15th.

The event will begin with a Friday evening reception and viewing of the newly-installed portrait exhibit, An Excellent Likeness, in the LeFevre house. Saturday is the “meat” of the event, with a full day series of workshops focusing on early history. Topics such as the lives of the Huguenots and Dutch before they settled New Paltz, African-Americans and Slavery, Clothing Design and the role of women in early New York will be featured. Lunch and dinner are included and the day will be rounded out with evening options of a talk about Cultural Pluralism or an opportunity to partake in the popular Haunted Huguenot Street program. The event concludes on Sunday with options of a service in the French Church, an archaeology workshop or a tour of the museum houses.

More information about the Gathering, including workshop descriptions, can be found at www.huguenotstreet.org. The cost for the event is $50 per person or $90 per couple. Special activities are available for children and Saturday meals are included in the cost of registration. For more information, visit the HHS website or call (845) 255-1660.

Vermont: New Calvin Coolidge Museum Opens

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A new museum and education center at the childhood home of the only U.S. President born on the Fourth of July has been officially opened. The President Calvin Coolidge Museum & Education Center was dedicated by Vermont Governor Jim Douglas- members of Vermont’s congressional delegation- and descendents of the president nicknamed “Silent Cal” at a ceremony on Saturday.

“This museum is a fitting tribute to our nation’s 30th President, and a testament to how his early experiences in Plymouth Notch shaped John Calvin Coolidge,” Douglas said, noting that Coolidge’s quiet, reserved demeanor was fodder for humorists of his day.

“But it is his modesty and restraint in governing – virtues that came to be associated with his frugal, pragmatic Vermont upbringing – that are now the object of much discussion,” Douglas said, noting that Coolidge was undergoing a “renaissance” in historic and political circles.

The building will have new space for permanent and temporary exhibits- a new gift shop- a large special function room- a classroom- and offices in the lower level for the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation and their small library.

The project cost just over $2 million, with roughly a third of that coming from the foundation and the rest from the state. Coolidge was the last president to serve before the practice of constructing federally-funded presidential libraries began.

The ceremony took place as part of Plymouth Old Home Day, a long-standing tradition in the tiny hamlet, which is preserved much as it was since Coolidge was vacationing here as vice president when he received word of the untimely death of President Warren Harding in August, 1923.

At approximately 2:47 a.m. on August 3, 1923, by the light of a kerosene lamp, notary public Colonel John Coolidge administered the oath of office to his son.

The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, which owns and operates the Coolidge Site, has planned a number of other special events this season including the Plymouth Folk & Blues Concerts on September 4 and 5, and Plymouth Cheese & Harvest Festival on September 19.

Also returning this year are the popular Grace Coolidge Musicales, concerts set for August 8, September 12, and October 3 at the site.

A National Historic Landmark, Plymouth Notch is considered one of the best-preserved presidential sites in the country.

Twelve buildings are on the tour- the site is open through October 17, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., daily.

For further information, contact the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site, (802) 672-3773, or visit www.HistoricVermont.org/sites

NYS Musuem Invites Exhibition Photo Submissions

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The New York State Museum is inviting the public to submit their digital photographs of scenic New York State landscapes, the best of which will be showcased in an upcoming Museum exhibition and displayed on the Museum website and Flickr page.

Scenic landscapes exist in every corner of New York State and are often found on picture perfect postcards that read “wish you were here.” The State Museum’s exhibition, Wish You Were Here! New York State Photographed by You will open in the State Museum’s West Hall Corridor on September 3, featuring a selection of the best landscape photographs submitted by the public. These can be photographs of a beloved vacation spot or even the backyard, neighborhood street or other favorite place. Images chosen for the exhibition, as well as others that are submitted, will also appear on the Museum’s website. Photographs will still be accepted after September 3, since new ones will continually be added to both the gallery and website.

Wish You Were Here will complement another exhibition in the Museum’s adjacent West Gallery &#8212- Not Just Another Pretty Place: The Landscape of New York. Also opening on September 3, this will be the first exhibition of landscape art to be culled from the Museum’s vast collections.

Those wishing to submit photos for Wish You Were Here will find further information at www.nysm.nysed.gov/wishyouwerehere.

Mark Twain in the Adirondacks

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As fans of Mark Twain the world ‘round await the fall release of his unexpurgated autobiography a century after his death, scholars, authors, teachers, and other admirers of Twain will gather on the time-carved shores of Lower Saranac Lake to draw a more intimate portrait of the writer and humorist and explore his indelible contributions to American life and letters.

On Saturday, August 14, Dr. Charles Alexander of Paul Smith’s College, Dr. Margaret Washington, Associate Professor of History at Cornell University, and beloved children’s author Steven Kellogg of Essex, NY, will headline the day-long “Mark Twain in the Adirondacks” program at Guggenheim Camp on Lower Saranac Lake.

Doors will open at 9:30 a.m. At 10:00 a.m., Dr. Alexander will explore Twain’s surprising connections to the Adirondacks, focusing on his retreat from the outside world to the Kane Camp on Lower Saranac Lake in 1901 and the little-known essay, “The United States of Lyncherdom”, Twain wrote when the news of lynchings in Missouri reached him there. So incendiary, Twain allowed publication of the essay only after his death.

At 11:00 a.m., Steven Kellogg will read passages from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and share why he counts it among his favorite books. Dr. Washington will continue the focus on Huck Finn, guiding the audience through critical debates over the work since its publication in 1885 and Twain’s straightforward treatment of slavery and race.

Following their formal presentations, Kellogg, Washington and Alexander will invite the audience to participate with them in an open-ended conversation about Twain and his lasting influence and power to provoke even today, 100 years after his death.

In November, the University of California Press will publish the first of three volumes of Twain’s half-million word autobiography, most of which the author dictated to a stenographer over the course of the four years before he died in 1910. According to New York Times reviewer Larry Rother, “a very different Twain emerges, more pointedly political and willing to play the angry prophet” (NYT 10 Jul 2010).

“Mark Twain in the Adirondacks” will be held at the rustic Guggenheim. Complimentary coffee, tea and pastries will be provided in the morning and ice cream donated by Stewart’s Shops will be served during the afternoon conversation. People are encouraged to pack a lunch.

A $5 donation is requested for Guggenheim program. Optional hour-long boat tours to the privately-owned Kane Camp where Twain stayed will be offered in the afternoon, starting at 2:00 p.m. Sign-up for the tours is on a first come, first serve basis, beginning when the doors open at 9:30 am. Tickets for the boat tours are $20 each, which includes entrance to the talks at Guggenheim Camp.

“Mark Twain in the Adirondacks” is a joint project of Historic Saranac Lake, John Brown Lives!, Paul Smith’s College, Keene Valley Library, and Saranac Lake Free Library. On July 23, Keene Valley Library hosted Huck Finn Out Loud—a twelve-hour marathon reading of the novel. Volunteer readers and listeners from all walks of life hailed from across the North Country and from Paris, France.

North Country Public Radio is media sponsor of “Mark Twain in the Adirondacks”. Funding has been provided by New York Council for the Humanities, Stewart’s Shops, Cape Air, Paul Smith’s College, and International Paper-Ticonderoga Mill. For more information, contact Amy Catania, Director of Historic Saranac Lake at 518-891-4606 or Martha Swan, Director of John Brown Lives! at 518-962-4758.

Commentary: Demolition of Marx Brothers Place

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The following commentary and call to action was issued by the 93rd Street Beautification Association and is reprinted here in it’s entirety for your information:

Anybody who has been paying the slightest bit of attention to the doings of Marx Brothers Place over the last few years knows full well that the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) has dispatched numerous letters refusing the community’s request to calendar this historic block for a public hearing. The LPC’s lack of interest in landmarking historic Marx Brothers Place is nothing new: It’s legendary.

In fact, it was precisely the LPC’s anemic response to Marx Brothers Place that inspired the broad coalition of advocates to speak out in support of extending the Carnegie Hill Historic District (CHHD) so as to include the incomparable collection of historic structures on East 93rd Street before the entire block is marked with a big red X for the wrecking ball.

Notoriously, historic districts have been repeatedly rejected by the LPC for years &#8211 a commission into whose vortex designation requests (RFEs) disappear like socks in the dryer &#8211 and languished without legal protection from demolition before finally being calendered and properly designated.

The community coalition which robustly supports designating historic Marx Brothers Place &#8211 and includes the 93rd Street Beautification Association- Carnegie Hill Neighbors- Historic Districts Council- New York Landmarks Conservancy- Place Matters (a collaboration of the Municipal Arts Society and Citylore)- Members of the Marx Brothers family- Woody Allen- Bob Weide- Andrew Berman- Bronson Binger- Michael Devonshire- 93rd Street Block Association- Brewery Hill Block Association- Assemblyman Micah Kellner- Assemblyman Jonathan Bing- NYC Council Member Jessica Lappin- NY State Senator Jose Serrano- Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and countless other preservationists, homeowners, residents, artists and historians &#8211 has been battling against the LPC’s lethargy toward historic Marx Brothers Place since day one.

Backed by the uncompromising historic evidence &#8211 research unearthed by a Preservation historian at Columbia University’s acclaimed Graduate School of Architecture & Historic Preservation &#8211 this massive community coalition continues its efforts to try to enlighten and educate the LPC as to the fact that Marx Brothers Place not only meets the criteria for landmarking in NYC, it surpasses it.

Make no mistake: The Marx Brothers Place community coalition stands resolute in its position that this world famous block in Carnegie Hill warrants immediate protection from indiscriminate demolition because of its historic, cultural and architectural significance.

So on Monday, July 19 &#8211 when Community Board 8&#8242-s (CB8&#8242-s) Landmarks Committee voted 7-0 (with one abstention) to send a powerful message to the LPC resolving that this important historic block should be landmarked by the city &#8211 this devoted community coalition had much to celebrate when, after years of advocating, it had successfully moved that much closer to its goal.

And had the 93rd Street Beautification Association’s request to CB8 gone according to normal procedure, the next step in this public process would have been for CB8&#8242-s Landmarks Committee to present to the Full CB8 Board the fact of its overwhelmingly 7-0 vote and the reasons the Committee had decided to so strongly support the request to landmark historic East 93rd Street. But, as many of you know by now, what followed was anything but &#8216-normal procedure’.

NYC Council Member Dan Garodnick had insisted that the 93rd Street Beautification Association first get the blessing of CB8 before he would be willing to wield his influence in asking the LPC to calender Marx Brothers Place for a public hearing. But then instead of celebrating the Association’s 7-0 victory before CB8&#8242-s Landmarks Committee, the Council Member chose instead to turn his back on his constituents and, without so much as a heads-up to the Association, furtively did his level best to undermine the preservation campaign’s progress.

On Wednesday, July 21 &#8211 the same day that the full CB8 Board was scheduled to vote on Marx Brothers Place &#8211 CM Garodnick reportedly contacted a co-chair of CB8&#8242-s Landmarks Committee, Jane Parhsall, to offer her copies of a stale letter he had received from the LPC dated May 26, 2010.

The &#8216-Garodnick letter’ &#8211 as it has come to be known &#8211 was not a revelatory piece of news and its boilerplate language was nothing more than the same old, same old misinformation that the coalition has been disputing for years (it should also be noted that despite repeated requests, CB8 has &#8211 to date &#8211 failed to provide the Association with a copy of the &#8216-Garodnick letter’ which it only allowed the Association to see after CB8 Landmarks Committee co-chair Parshall had already dramatically misrepresented its contents to the entire CB8 audience before the full CB8 Board vote on July 21).

While deliberately overstating the import of yet one more of the LPC’s perennial letters &#8211 brushing off the request to calender Marx Brothers Place for a public hearing &#8211 CM Garodnick and CB8&#8242-s Parshall sorely underestimated the public interest in landmarking this storied block.

Smacking of the sort of dirty, petty politics the public has come to expect from its elected and appointed officials &#8211 who time and time again fail the public while proving unworthy of carrying out the people’s business &#8211 Garodnick and Parshall’s blatant breach of the public trust in the process to which Marx Brothers Place is due smells riper than a rotten fish.

Thanks for your continued interest in historic Marx Brothers Place!

For more information about the 93rd Street Beautification Association or Marx Brothers Place, contact [email protected] or 212.969.8138 or visit the blogs at Save Marx Brothers Place or The Marx Brothers Place Report.

You can also follow Marx Brothers Place on Twitter @93rdStreet, Facebook @ Save Marx Brothers Place, YouTube @ Marx Brothers Place and on MySpace @ Marx Brothers Place.

To make a tax-deductible contribution to the preservation campaign, click here.

Music Series at Saratoga Battlefield

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Enjoy free music concerts at 12 noon on Tuesdays in August at Saratoga National Historical Park, located on Route 32 and 4 in Stillwater. Bring a bag lunch, take a seat on the patio or bring a lawn chair and enjoy a different concert every week. The performances, sponsored by Friends of Saratoga Battlefield are held at the park’s visitor center.

August 10 &#8211 Elizabeth Huntley: How much more elegant can things get?
Sublime music of the 18th century performed on the harp, sublime views of
the Saratoga Battlefield from the Visitor Center lawn. Enjoy classical
pieces played upon the Queen of Instruments performed by harpist Elizabeth
Huntley.

August 17 &#8211 Tom Akstens and Neil Rossi: Bet you can’t keep your toes from
tapping to these lively traditional tunes! Celebrate America’s musical
roots played on fiddle, banjo, guitar and mandolin by virtuosos Tom Akstens
and Neil Rossi.

August 24 &#8211 Fort Ticonderoga Fife and Drum Corps: Martial music at its
best! The Fort Ticonderoga Fife and Drum Corps perform tunes that wafted
over Revolutionary Battlefields while providing inspiration and commands to
soldiers.

For more information on this and other programs at Saratoga National
Historical Park, please call 664.9821 ext. 224 or visit their website at
www.nps.gov/sara

Down on the Farm With The Adirondack Museum

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Join the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, New York for a field trip to Adirondack farms and a local farmer’s market. Field trip farms include Rivermede Farm at Snowslip, Lake Placid, N.Y., Tucker’s Taters Farm, Gabriels, N.Y., and the Ponderosa Poultry Farm, also in Gabriels. The day will include a stop at the Saranac Lake Village Farmer’s Market, as well as lunch at the Eat &#8216-N Meet restaurant in Saranac Lake, N.Y.

The Farm Field Trip will be held on Saturday, August 21, 2010. Pre-registration is required. The day will begin at 9:30 a.m. in Lake Placid, N.Y. and end at 5:00 p.m. in Gabriels.

Participants will use their own cars or carpool with others. Driving directions will be sent upon registration. Sensible clothing and sturdy shoes are suggested. The cost will be $50 for museum members and $55 for non-members. For additional information or to register, please contact Jessica Rubin at (518) 352-7311, ext. 115 or at [email protected].

The field trip day will begin with an introduction and presentation, &#8220Adirondack Farming History,&#8221 by museum Curator Hallie Bond at Rivermede Farm at Snowslip.

A tour of Rivermede will follow. Rivermede Farm at Snowslip is owner Rob Hasting’s &#8220new&#8221 farm. Hastings has been farming at Rivermede in Keene Valley, N.Y. for over twenty years.

The group will then move on to Saranac Lake, N.Y. and the opportunity to explore and enjoy the Saranac Lake Village Farmer’s Market.

Lunch will follow at the Eat &#8216-N Meet restaurant where chef and owner John Vargo is committed to using local foods. The menu at Eat &#8216-N Meet represents time-trusted recipes and classic European technique &#8211 with South American, Caribbean, African, and Asian influences.

At 2:00 p.m. the tour will visit Tucker’s Tater Farm in Gabriels, N.Y. Tucker Farms has been a family enterprise since the 1860&#8242-s. Steve and Tom Tucker &#8211 5th generation owners &#8211 have diversified the farm to alleviate ebbs and flows in the economy. They have added specialty variety potatoes to their list of crops including &#8220All Blue,&#8221 &#8220Adirondack Blue,&#8221 &#8220Adirondack Red,&#8221 and &#8220Peter Wilcox&#8221 &#8211 a purple skinned yellow flesh variety.

The day will come to a close at Ponderosa Poultry Farm, also in Gabriels. A chicken and duck ranch, the farm includes lupines, dahlias, gladiolas, and a small garden.

Durants Adirondack Railroad Company Lecture

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The rails of the Adirondack Company were the first to penetrate the central Adirondack Mountains. Construction began in 1865. The goals of the endeavor were to serve the iron mines at Sanford Lake, and more ambitiously, to connect with Great Lakes shipping at Ogdensburg.

Tomorrow, Monday, August 9th railroad historian and author Dr. Michael Kudish will offer a program entitled &#8220Where Did the Tracks Go? Dr. Durant’s Adirondack Railroad Company&#8221 at the Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, New York.

Part of the museum’s Monday Evening Lecture series, the presentation will be held in the Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. There is no charge for museum members. Admission is $5.00 for non-members.

The illustrated program will cover the history of Dr. Durant’s railway line to North Creek, N.Y. and its effect on the region.

Dr. Michael Kudish received his PhD at the New York State college of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse, N.Y. As a professor in he Division of Forestry at Paul Smith’s College, he has written four books on the vegetation of the Adirondacks. His railroad books include: Where Did the Tracks Go (1985)- Railroads of the Adirondacks: A History (1996)- as well as four volumes devoted to the mountain railroads of New York State. Dr. Kudish is now retired.

Photo: Dr. Michael Kudish