The rock is west of Keene, and east of Lake Placid,...
Weather has taken a toll but the outline of the stagecoach and team of horses is still very visible.
Does anyone know the story behind this?
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Stagecoach Rock...
In an earlier post about the Cascade Lakes I mentioned that an inn, a stagecoach stop, once stood on the land between the two lakes. Just west of that old inn location is a very large boulder with a carved outline of a stagecoach. When the highway, Rt. 73, was repaired in recent years, the boulder was protected and a small parking area created. I have looked unsuccessfully to find the background information about the carving, so if any readers can contribute please do so and I will give you credit for your information!
The rock is west of Keene, and east of Lake Placid,...
Weather has taken a toll but the outline of the stagecoach and team of horses is still very visible.
Does anyone know the story behind this?
The rock is west of Keene, and east of Lake Placid,...
Weather has taken a toll but the outline of the stagecoach and team of horses is still very visible. Does anyone know the story behind this?
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3 comments:
Hey! I just passed that thing several times this weekend! I always notice it. This is what I know - The words are mine, but the info comes from an article in Adirondack life in 1986, by Jeffery G. Kelly.
In 1938, a big rock fell from the cliff and blocked the road. One of the guys working on the road had an idea to carve a stagecoach into it (for some reason). An artist (I forget his name) did the drawing, and it was sandblasted into the rock (not carved).
The artist, Lewis Stacey Brown, was a curator at The Museum of Natural History in NYC for some time. It was etched by the Carnes family in AuSable Forks - their granite and memorial company is still there, right as you pull into town on Route 9N. They did a lot of the memorials in the area, including Stagecoach Rock and the memorial marker at the John Brown site.
Surely coaches did pass by, but the article tells us that this wasn't the main stage route - Old Military Road (connecting with Shackett Road in Keene Valley). There was a nearby inn called The Cascade House, which is likely why there were stages passing here.
I took a look around the internet and noticed that the artist must have been around at least as late as the 1980s - he did the illustrations for a kids' book called, "Yes, Helen, There Were Dinosaurs" in 1982. There are a lot of other books under his name, and it seems as if he became rather famous for drawing horses and dinosaurs and such.
Oh wow... that's neat. Don't know the story but would love to know if you find out.
Thanks Michele ... and City Mouse,I just got back from camping,... I'll be sure to post your comment as my next blog entry!
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