Welcome Home!...

... to the 33 miners in Chile!

Now we just have to see the rescue workers all make it to the top and it will have been a perfect 24 hours.

And, on edit,... everyone is now above ground and safe. Way to go!

Fort Ticonderoga...

The United States flag flies over Fort Ticonderoga today, but it was not always so. These historical buildings must be dizzy from changing hands so often. Here just some of the names of people who have entered through the gates of Fort Ticonderoga. As I stood there on Wednesday I could almost hear the voices!


The buildings are fascinating... to think that our ancestors lived and fought and died in these yards and fields here...


A guide in Revolutionary War dress gave a demonstration of the steps of firing a muzzle loader gun. In this day of modern weapons to think of taking nearly a half a minute to load and fire a gun is amazing.



One of the Fort's cannon pointing strategically toward the narrow area of Lake Champlain.

My visit found a very small group of people on the fort's grounds as the summer tourists are gone, children back in school. It gave me time to walk through the buildings and over the grounds at my own pace, soaking up our history. Maybe it was the best time of the year to visit?

I Remember....

September 11, 2001...I remember all of the wonderful people that we lost eight years ago today,... and all of the heros that worked so hard to help.

(image courtesy of www.historyimages.com)

As You Are Now,...

There is a tiny cemetery between Elizabethtown and Mineville. It is in the woods. There has been an attempt to clear brush and mow the grass this year, but the branches and leaves are still crowding in. A lot of the graves are from more than a 100 years ago,... some more than 150 years ago.

Walk softly, as you pass by....As you are now,
So once was I....As I am now, so you must be,
Prepare for death and follow me.

Juliett lived to be seven before she died in 1842,

Amelia Ann, only 10 died in 1854,

A father, Enos Wise, who was born in 1787 seems to be comforting his son who died as a teenager. The weatherbeaten pitcher holds faded artificial flowers.

I think I would like to come to my final rest in a place like this.

I wonder what their lives were like. Their loves and their heartbreaks. Very few stones showed ages more than in their 40s. There were a couple that reached ages in their 60s and one was 77. It must have been pure luck to have lived that long a life in those days. I paid my respects and quietly walked back to my car. Sleep well, my friends.

LaDuchesse...

The LaDuchesse is the 1903 Gilded-Age houseboat moored at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, NY.
As you enter the museum building you register at the admissions desk for the tour of the antique houseboat. As I walked out toward the dock it looked like a big houseboat,... but,...


As I walked farther down the dock that houseboat seemed to grow! It is extremely large!


There are many guest bedrooms on board.


The dining room is on the lower level. Can you imagine the elegant meals served here just after the turn of the century,... the last century!


The master suite is much larger than the other bedrooms. This is the sitting area...


On the other side of the room is a lovely bed, perhaps a queen size. Imagine being anchored in the 1000 Islands with the windows open and hearing the waves rock you to sleep!


Evenings aboard were spent entertaining guests with a piano player. The windows you see behind the piano raised outward and were fastened above by slender chains and hooks. That way the music could be heard out on the dancing deck...

A lounge deck by day while cruising,... a dancing deck by evening while anchored!

I could almost hear the voices and the music and the clink of glasses as people enjoyed a party over a century ago!

Antique Boat Museum...

Last weekend on Friday morning a friend and I drove a short distance from the bluegrass festival to Clayton, NY. There we visited the Antique Boat Museum. It is a complex of several buildings, this is the main entrance building.

In 1986 I was fishing on Lake Placid here in the Adirondacks and there was an antique boat regatta that same day. This boat, the "Snail" , went by where we were fishing and I took a photo. I remember it well.
The front of the museum facing the river has benches and chairs as a place to sit and enjoy the cool breeze and the view. Although not in the Adirondack Park itself, these Adirondack Chairs were strategically placed so we could enjoy shade from the sun.

Many rivers criss-cross the north country of NY, however when I refer to "the river" I mean the St.Lawrence...

Here is one of the displays featuring racing boats...

When i look at a boat such as the Dixie II I wonder about all the people and the good times it has seen. It looks like the Dixie II was a champion!

For more fun on the river, stay tuned!

Decoration Day,...

When I was growing up my grandmother lived with us. She always referred to this day as Decoration Day. We would take lilacs and decorate the graves of grandparents and other family members.

We know it today as Memorial Day. Being curious about the history of the day I did an online search... History.com has a nice page on the day which was originally to honor our fallen soldiers from the Civil War.
This photo is taken from the National Archives. You can find many Civil War photos there as well as other great information.

Now we call this day Memorial Day. Somehow to me saying "celebrate" doesn't quite fit. And I can't bring myself to say "Happy Memorial Day!" as some do. For me it's remembering those men and women who have served us all, and so many who gave the ultimate gift. So to all of our men and woman who are serving, and to all of the fallen, and their families, -- I say a heart felt "thank you!"

Lake Travel,...

Lake Champlain lies between New York and Vermont and extends northward into Quebec. It is approximately 108 miles long, with a maximum depth of 400 feet. The lake is named after Samuel deChamplain who arrived here in 1609. It was the site of many events during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Perhaps the most famous is the Battle of Valcour.

In more modern times people in the shoreline communities needed to travel. The lake steamers came into being. This is an artist's rendition of The Vermont, the first steamboat on Lake Champlain. And according to the back of this antique post card from Basin Harbor, Vt, it was built in 1808 and entered service on the lake in 1809.

The builders were John and James Winans. The back of the post card states it was 120 feet long, with a 20 ft. beam and and engine of 20 hp.

Years later the second Vermont steamed back and forth on Lake Champlain. This photo is in my family collection. Perhaps taken by either my grandfather or grandmother.

The next steamer on the lake was The Ticonderoga. The "Ti" survived and is on display at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, VT.

The date on this panel of gauges shows 1906, the year of my mother's birth.

Here is the diningroom aboard the "Ti". It steamed from Burlington, VT, to Ticonderoga, NY with stops at several lake shore towns including Port Henry, NY and Westport, NY. My mother told stories of my grandmother taking her on the Ti to shop in Burlington.

A few years ago I visited the Shelburne Museum specifically to step on board the Ti and feel the times of the past.

When the Ti docked in Westport there is a story of a fiddler playing music and this little girl dancing a jig for the passengers as they boarded the boat.

This little girl was my mother!

Inez...

Inez Milholland was born August 6, 1886 in Brooklyn, NY. The family owned property in the eastern foothills of the Adirondacks and summered there, at "Meadowmount".... That home is now a summer camp for music students, with alumni including Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman.

Inez attended Vassar College, graduating in 1909. While there she was a strong worker protesting the fact that women were not yet allowed to vote. She went on to become a well known leader and public speaker in the women's suffrage movement.


Here Inez is riding in a parade in 1912 in New York City. The photo was made into a post card.

On the back of this postcard is a note from Inez's sister Vida to my grandmother. I'm sure there was a wonderful story about listening to a radio, but I do not know what it was.

Here is Vida on the left with her famous sister, Inez.

In 1913, on the day before Woodrow Wilson's innauguration, Inez led a suffrage parade in Washington, D.C.

This is the poster for the National Women's Party, featuring an artist's rendition of Inez in that parade in Washington. Inez married that year, becoming the bride of Eugen Boissevain. Three years later in 1916 Inez died at the age of 30 while on a speaking tour in California. Several years later Mr. Boissevain married Edna St.Vincent Millay.

To a "north country" neighbor, many thanks to you Inez, for your hard work so many years ago in bringing the vote to women!

Making Cider,...

Sunday was the Harvest Festival at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake. This cider press was run by old fashioned steam power.



I'm not sure of the mechanics of the steam engine, but you can see the steam coming out of the pipe.
The apples were pressed and the cider ran through the screening and into the pan. From there it was offered to the crowd for tasting. Mmmmmm.....good!

A Trip To Our Past,...

Sunday morning a friend and I set out for a day trip to Blue Mountain Lake and the Adirondack Museum. Heading south on I-87 the view to the west is Rocky Peak Ridge and Giant Mountain.

The sky was overcast and the air chilly. Unfortunately the fall foliage was not looking its best under those conditions.

As we headed west on the Blue Ridge Road this pond looked dark and forbidding rather than bright and cheery as it would have under a blue sky.

Arriving at Adkirondack Museum,....

After arriving another friend joined me for lunch in the museum cafeteria. This view was at our elbow as we sat next to the vast windows in the dining area. I recommend the cream of turkey soup! Perfect for the dreary day.

One of my favorite stops is the Sunset Cottage. This sleeping cabin was part of Camp Cedars, designed by William West Durant for his cousin Frederick Clark Durant. The "twigging" decoration is a favorite style for cabins and furniture of this vintage...in the late 1800s. Twigging has enjoyed a revival and is widely used by Adirondack camp builders and furniture makers today.

How enjoyable to read a book and relax by these windows.
But this narrow bed does not look very comfortable!
A closeup of the twigging decoration.

After enjoying a visit to Sunset Cottage there were many other attractions to see. I'll have more for you tomorrow,.... to plan your own visit visit the museum's web site:

http://www.adkmuseum.org/ .