Adirondack Museum

Andy Flynns Sixth Adirondack Attic Book

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Hungry Bear Publishing recently released its sixth volume in the “Adirondack Attic” book series, highlighting dozens of artifacts from the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake.

Author Andy Flynn, of Saranac Lake, tells 53 more stories about the museum’s collection in New York State’s Mountain Heritage: Adirondack Attic, Volume 6, bringing the story count to more than 300 for the six-volume series that began in 2004. Stories, and artifacts, come from all over the Adirondack region.

“Each story is special unto itself- however, taken as a whole, this series gives us the big picture,” Flynn told the Almanack. “Thanks to these artifacts, we now have a unique perspective on the Adirondack experiment and a better understanding of the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park, its people and communities, and how life has changed here over the past 300 years.”

Stories from Adirondack Attic 6 come from the following communities: Au Sable Forks, Bangor, Blue Mountain Lake, Brantingham Lake, Canton, Chestertown, Cranberry Lake, Dickinson Center, Elizabethtown, Hague, Johnsburg, Lake George, Lake Placid, Long Lake, Loon Lake, Lyon Mountain, Mohawk, Newcomb, North River, Northville, Paul Smiths, Port Henry, Raquette Lake, Saranac Lake, Ticonderoga, Tupper Lake, Warrensburg and Wilmington.

Flynn created the Adirondack Attic History Project to “promote the heritage of the Adirondack Park to residents and visitors through publications and programs.” As the owner/operator of Hungry Bear Publishing, he works with curators at the Adirondack Museum and other historical associations and museums in the region to tell human-interest stories about their artifact collections.

Flynn’s “Adirondack Attic” column ran weekly in several northern New York newspapers from 2003 to 2009. The stories in Adirondack Attic 6 represent the columns from 2008. Each volume includes columns from a specific year- for example, Adirondack Attic 1 featured columns from 2003, the first year of the Adirondack Attic History Project.

In April 2010, North Country Public Radio began running Flynn’s new Adirondack Attic Radio Series, sponsored by the Adirondack Museum and singer/songwriter Dan Berggren. It airs the first Tuesday of the month during the Eight O’Clock Hour with Todd Moe. For each program, Flynn features a different artifact from the collection of a museum in the Adirondack North Country Region. He uses the Adirondack Museum as his “History Headquarters” but also visits other museums to track down the objects people have made, used and left behind.

In 2008, Andy Flynn was awarded a Certificate of Commendation from the Upstate History Alliance for the Adirondack Attic History Project. He has since presented programs on his work with the Adirondack Museum to scholars at the New York State Archives Conference (2008), Association of Public Historians of New York State (2008) and Conference on New York State History (2009).

Flynn also publishes the Meet the Town community guide series with booklets for Saranac Lake, Lake Placid/Wilmington, Canton, Potsdam, Tupper Lake/Long Lake/Newcomb and the Au Sable Valley. From 2001 to 2009, he was employed as the Senior Public Information Specialist at the Adirondack Park Agency Visitor Interpretive Center in Paul Smiths.

Flynn is an award-winning journalist, garnering merits of excellence from the National Newspaper Association, New York Newspaper Publishers Association and the New York Press Association. While the staff writer at the Lake Placid News, he was named the 1996 NYPA Writer of the Year for weekly New York state newspapers with circulations under 10,000. Before joining the VIC staff, he was a writer and editor for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise in Saranac Lake and the Lake Placid News, a correspondent for the Plattsburgh Press-Republican, an announcer for WNBZ 1240-AM in Saranac Lake, and a general assignment news reporter and radio documentary producer for North Country Public Radio in Canton. He is a graduate of the SUNY College at Fredonia (1991) and the Tupper Lake High School (1987).

For more information about the Adirondack Attic book series and radio program, call (518) 891-5559 or visit online at www.hungrybearpublishing.com.

ADIRONDACK ATTIC 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1: Delaware & Hudson Railroad guides

2: Camp Santanoni Gate Lodge rendering (Newcomb)

3: Long Lake fire truck

4: Snowbug and Luvbug snow machines

5: Lake Placid bobsledding cassette tape (Saranac Lake, Lake Placid)

6: Mystery of Ironshoes, the bobsled (Lake Placid, Port Henry, Lyon Mountain, Elizabethtown)

7: Nehasane Park wagon (Long Lake)

8: Republic Steel miner’s helmet (Port Henry)

9: J. & J. Rogers Company safe (Au Sable Forks)

10: Paul Smith’s hotel stagecoach photo

11: Willcox & Gibbs sewing machine (Mohawk)

12: Bonnie Belle Farm ensilage cutter (Chestertown)

13: Maple sugaring sledge (Dickinson enter, North River)

14: Acme Leader cooking stove (Warrensburg)

15: Steamer Vermont III menu (Lake Champlain, Lake Placid, Loon Lake)

16: Au Sable Forks archery set

17: Bear Pond Preserve posted sign (Raquette Lake)

18: Fire tower string map (Warrensburg, Lake George)

19: Whiteface Mt. Ski Center brochures

20: Hendrik Van Loon’s Wide World Game

21: “Uncle Mart” Moody pocket watch (Tupper Lake)

22: Civil War memorial poster (Warrensburg)

23: “Assaulted by Mosquitoes” photo

24: Bug dope in the Adirondack woods

25: Sunset Cottage (Forked Lake)

26: Frederic Remington painting (Canton, Cranberry Lake)

27: A Pleasant Day at Lake George painting

28: Picturesque America book

29: Swizzle sticks (Ticonderoga, Port Henry, Hague)

30: E.R. Wallace guidebooks

31: Long Lake church souvenir tray

32: In Nature’s Laboratory book

33: Clock Golf lawn game

34: Altamont Milk Company cooler (Tupper Lake)

35: Blue Mountain House artist’s cottage

36: North River crazy quilt

37: 18th century clay pipe fragment (Blue Mountain Lake)

38: Raquette Lake sectional rowboat

39: Ticonderoga Indian Pageant booklet

40: Lake George souvenir china

41: Sacandaga Park souvenir china (Northville)

42: O.W.D. Corporation 5-cent token (Tupper Lake)

43: 1833 needlepoint sampler (Johnsburg)

44: Warrensburg hearse

45: Lake Placid violin

46: Mystery of the postal hand stamp (Bangor)

47: Dwight P. Church’s aerial camera (Canton)

48: Civilian Conservation Corps ring (Glens Falls/Hudson Falls)

49: Tupper Lake baby shoes

50: 1929 firemen’s convention ribbon (Saranac Lake)

51: Dr. William Seward Webb mailbag

52: Brantingham Lake rustic chair

53: Newcomb Snow Plow

Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers.

Great Adirondack Quilt Show, September 25th

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The Second Annual Great Adirondack Quilt Show will be held at the Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, New York on Saturday, September 25, 2010. Nearly fifty contemporary quilts will be displayed in the museum’s Roads and Rails building from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. The show is part of the Adirondack Fabric and Fiber Arts Festival and is included in the price of general museum admission.

All of the quilts and wall hangings in the show were made after 1970- the natural beauty of the Adirondack region has inspired the design of each. This is truly an Adirondack quilt show. Communities from Piseco to Dickinson Center, Diamond Point to Watertown, N.Y., and many towns in between are represented.

The show will include quilts made from published designs (three from one book alone), original compositions, those that are quilted by hand and others by machine, a few tied comforters, and wall hangings constructed using modern layered fabric techniques.

There are a profusion of appliqued animals &#8211 bear and moose predominating! Visitors should look for the &#8220red work&#8221 embroidered piece, the round quilt, and the wall hanging made from forty-two rhomboid-shaped &#8220mini&#8221 quilts.

Some of the makers featured are truly &#8220quilt artists&#8221 with resumes listing the prestigious shows that they have done, and others are Grandmas who have lovingly fashioned special quilts for their grandchildren.

In addition, there will be a mini-exhibit of the textile production of five generations of the Flachbarth family of Chestertown, N.Y. From an 1877 sampler made in Czechoslovakia by Julia Michler Flachbarth to a contemporary quilt representing Yankee Stadium, the exhibit is a fascinating tour of textile history as interpreted by a single family.

Museum curator Hallie E. Bond has organized the Great Adirondack Quilt Show. Bond also curated the exhibit &#8220Common Threads: 150 Years of Adirondack Quilts and Comforters&#8221 which will be on display at the Adirondack Museum through October 2011.

The Adirondack Museum tells stories of the people &#8211 past and present &#8212- who have lived, worked, and played in the unique place that is the Adirondack Park. History is in our nature. The museum is supported in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency. For information about all that the museum has to offer, call (518) 352-7311, or visit www.adirondackmuseum.org.

Photo: &#8220Late Summer&#8221 by Joanna Monroe is one of the entries in the 2010 Great Adirondack Quilt Show.

Adirondack Museum Benefit For Those In Need

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The Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, New York will accept donations of food and winter clothing for a full month this fall, in collaboration with Hamilton County Community Action. From September 20 through October 18, 2010, donations of dried or canned foods, winter outerwear to include coats, hats, scarves, mittens, or boots for adults and children, as well as warm blankets, comforters, or quilts will be collected in the museum’s Visitor Center.

The Visitor Center is open from 9:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. daily. During the annual Adirondack Fabric and Fiber Arts Festival on September 25, 2010, a special knit-in, &#8220Warm Up America!&#8221 will create afghans that will also be donated to Hamilton County Community action. The knit-in will be held in the Visitor Center from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Participants will knit or crochet 7&#8243- by 9&#8243- rectangles that will be joined together to make cozy afghans.

Hamilton County Community Action, located on Main Street in Indian Lake, N.Y., provides programs and services for income-eligible senior, disabled, or in need residents. In 2009, the Adirondack Museum’s Harvest Festival food drive contributed more than ninety pounds of dried and canned food to their pantry shelves.

The Adirondack Museum tells stories of the people &#8211 past and present &#8212- who have lived, worked, and played in the unique place that is the Adirondack Park. History is in our nature. The museum is supported in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency. For information about all that the museum has to offer, call (518) 352-7311, or visit www.adirondackmuseum.org.

Market Basket Class at Adirondack Museum

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Learn the basics of basket making or refine your weaving skills in a one-day class at the Adirondack Museum, in Blue Mountain Lake, New York on Saturday, October 2, 2010. Shea Farrell Carr will lead a market basket class.

The market-style basket has a variety of household uses. It can be carried in the garden to gather flowers, but is also handy for storing towels and blankets. The base of the basket is 10&#8243- by 15&#8243- and finished dimensions are 21&#8243- long, 10&#8243- wide, and 14&#8243- tall. Participants will select material colors to create their own unique basket.

The cost will be $55 per participant, and includes all materials and instruction. The class will begin at 10:00 a.m. Pre-registration is required, space is limited. To register, call (518) 352-7311, ext. 115 or email [email protected] .

Born and raised in Long Lake, N.Y., Shea Farrell Carr has been making baskets since 1992. She took ownership of &#8220Adirondack Basket Case&#8221 from her mother, basket maker Patty Farrell, in 2009. She lives in Troy, N.Y. with her husband and two young children.

The Adirondack Museum tells stories of the people &#8211 past and present &#8212- who have lived, worked, and played in the unique place that is the Adirondack Park. History is in our nature. The museum is supported in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency. For information about all that the museum has to offer, please call (518) 352-7311, or visit www.adirondackmuseum.org.

Photo courtesy Shea Farrell Carr.

@adkmuseum.org>

Senator Schumer Visits the Adirondack Museum

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U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) spoke at the Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, New York on Friday, August 27, 2010. The Senator discussed the Travel Regional Investment Partnership Act (TRIP)- a bill designed to support and grow tourism. Approximately 30 people gathered to hear the Senator and share concerns. Pictured left to right: Bill Farber, Chairman Hamilton County Board of Supervisors- Caroline M. Welsh, Director of the Adirondack Museum- and Senator Charles Schumer.

Adirondack Museum Receives Challenge Grant

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The Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, New York is the recipient of a challenge grant in the amount of $20,000 from the John Ben Snow Memorial Trust. The funds will be used in support of a major renovation that will make the museum’s Auditorium universally accessible.

Director of Institutional Advancement Sarah Lewin says that with the gratifying news of the award comes the hard work of raising a matching $20,000 by December 15, 2010.

The accessibility project will provide a wheel-chair entrance to the Auditorium &#8211 the site of lectures, films, and special programs such as the museum’s popular Cabin Fever Sunday series &#8212- from the campus side of the building.

By re-designing one of the doors at the rear of the Auditorium and creating an attractive, covered, ramped entrance, the museum will eliminate the need for those with a disability to leave the grounds and enter the program space from the parking lot.

The renovation will allow the interior of the Auditorium to be easily accessed by wheelchair, enabling everyone, regardless of mobility, to present or enjoy museum programs.

Lewin says that every dollar toward meeting the challenge will help- no contribution is too small. For further information or to make a donation, contact Sarah Lewin at (518) 352-7311, ext. 125 or via email at [email protected] .

The mission of the Syracuse-based John Ben Snow Memorial Trust is to make grants within specific focus areas to enhance the quality of life in many geographic regions.

Historically, the Memorial Trust has made grants in the program areas of arts and culture, community development, education, the environment, historic preservation, and journalism.

Illustration: Proposed renovation of the Adirondack Museum Auditorium.

@adkmuseum.org>

Mountain Men Return to the Adirondack Museum

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The grounds of the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, New York will become a lively 19th century tent city with an encampment of American Mountain Men interpreting the fur trade and a variety of survival skills this weekend, August 20 and 21, 2010.

The group will interpret the lives and times of traditional mountain men with colorful demonstrations and displays of shooting, tomahawk and knife throwing, furs, fire starting and cooking, clothing of both eastern and western mountain styles, period firearms, and more. This year’s encampment may include blacksmithing as well as a beaver skinning and fleshing demonstration.

All of the American Mountain Men activities and demonstrations are included in the price of regular Adirondack Museum admission. There is no charge for museum members. The museum is open daily from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

Participants in the museum encampment are from the Brothers of the New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts segment of the national American Mountain Men organization. Participation in the encampment is by invitation only.

Mountain men are powerful symbols of America’s wild frontier. Legends about the mountain man continue to fascinate because many of the tales are true: the life of the mountain man was rough, and despite an amazing ability to survive in the wilderness, it brought him face to face with death on a regular basis.

The American Mountain Men group was founded in 1968. The association researches and studies the history, traditions, tools, and mode of living of the trappers, explorers, and traders known as the mountain men. Members continuously work for mastery of the primitive skills of both the original mountain men and Native Americans. The group prides itself on the accuracy and authenticity of its interpretation and shares the knowledge they have gained with all who are interested.

Glimmerglass Opera to Perform at Adk Museum

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On August 17, 2010 Adirondack Museum visitors can enjoy early nineteenth century American music as the Glimmerglass Opera Company’s Young American Artist program performs &#8220They Heard American Singing,&#8221 an evening of music by Aaron Copland and Charles Ives, as well as songs that influenced both of these original composers.

The program will include tunes that made up the fabric of American life at the turn of the twentieth century: hymns, folk tunes, opera, and a liberal sprinkling of ragtime.

The gates will open at 5:30 p.m. for guests who wish to bring their own picnic. The performance itself will begin at 7:00 p.m. The cost of the concert only is $25. Tickets for the concert will be available at the door. Limited seating will be available. Guests are asked to bring lawn chairs or a blanket.

Proceeds from the performance will support exhibits and programs at the Adirondack Museum.

Glimmerglass is an internationally renowned opera festival that offers four productions each summer season in the Alice Busch Opera Theater on the shores of Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, New York.

The Young American Artists Program was established at Glimmerglass Opera in 1988 to promote an artistically challenging environment for young American performers. The program provides training and performance experience for talented singers at the beginning of their professional careers.

Antiques Show and Sale at the Adirondack Museum

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The Adirondack Museum will host it’s annual Antiques Show and Sale on August 14 and 15, 2010. Forty-five of the country’s top antique dealers will offer the finest examples of premium vintage furnishings and collectables. For a complete listing of dealers, visit the &#8220Exhibits and Events&#8221 section of the Adirondack Museum web site at www.adirondackmuseum.org.

Show hours will be 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. on August 14, and 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on August 15. The Antiques Show and Sale is included in the price of general museum admission.

The 2010 Antiques Show and Sale will include: vintage Adirondack furniture, folk art, historic guideboats and canoes, genuine Old Hickory, taxidermy, books and ephemera for the collector, fine art, oriental and Persian rugs, camp and trade signs, Olympic advertising, and everything camp and cottage.

A shipping service will be available on each day of the show. Porters will be on site to assist with heavy or cumbersome items.

Rod Lich, Inc. of Georgetown, Indiana will manage the show. Rod and his wife Susan Parrett have 32 years of experience organizing premier antiques shows throughout the country. To learn more about Rod Lich, Inc. visit www.parretlich.com.

The Antiques Show Preview Benefit will be held on August 14 from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. Guests will enjoy exclusive early access to the show, a champagne brunch, and music. Proceeds from the benefit will support exhibits and programs at the Adirondack Museum. Preview benefit tickets are $125 and include admission to the Antiques Show and Sale on Saturday and Sunday. To reserve tickets call (518) 352-7311, ext. 119.

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.