Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, Part 3

If you don’t have a hankering to go see this museum after the first two posts about our trip (read Part 1 here and Part 2 here), I don’t know what to tell you. It took us two full days (and then some) to see this museum and we had a BLAST. My kids’ heads are officially stuffed with Adirondack information. By the time we pulled out of the parking lot at closing time, we were ready to haul out a boatload of cash to buy our own little cabin in the woods!

In the previous posts, I yakked on about the Adirondack hermits, Adirondack stuff and paraphernalia (aka, junk) that previous campers and residents left behind for us to ooo and aaa about, and I talked about the wonderful methods of transportation back in the ‘ol days (and you think modern potholes are bad, check out the old plank road!). For this post, I’ll talk about the modern Adirondacks– the Winter Olympics and Smokey the Bear, woo hoo!

Twice, Lake Placid in the Adirondacks has hosted the Winter Olympics, in 1932 and 1980. I remember watching the 1980 games on TV and feeling that tremendous surge of pride as a New Yorker. Lake Placid (where we hope to visit very soon) is a wonderful little community of sports enthusiasts. Dozens of winter athletes have come from this little town, including Jack Shea, winner of the 1932 gold for speed skating and his grandson Jimmy Shea for skeleton sledding in 2002 in Salt Lake City.

The museum has a small section devoted to Olympic history. This is the sled on which Francis Paul Stevens won his silver medal in 1932.

A little bit of trivia– did you know that the Lake Placid High School is the only school in the United States to have been issued an alcohol license? During the 1980 Olympics, the school served as a private bar. Lake Placid was also one of the first communities in the U.S. to build a golf course, in 1898.

Moving along, we wandered through another very large building dedicated to the various industries in the Adirondacks. Logging was the biggest, and there was so much to see and learn. We all found it extremely fascinating, with many old tools, displays, plaques and stories of the loggers and their families. What a tough, tough job. I’m amazed at the strength of these guys.

This is one of the many gigantic piece of equipment the loggers used. It’s a Barienger brake, a huge piece of machinery that controlled logs (and horses and men!) as they were transported down the steep slopes of the Adirondack mountains.

Men also transported logs by the many waterways of the ADKs. I loved this diorama.

After spending over an hour in this one building, we ventured outside to the old Whiteface Mountain fire tower.

The view is so cool.

Obviously, these fire towers could make or break a community. To heighten awareness of the threats of fire to visitors, Smokey the Bear was invented by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1942. This is a genuine old Smokey suit. Did you know that Smokey was named for Smokey Joe Martin, a New York City assistant fire chief?

The last moments of our visit were spent enjoying the various outbuildings. Many were reproductions of typical ADK cottages and summer camps, all sporting unique and quirky objects, like chain rain gutters, rustic playhouses and furniture made from twigs.

Giant Adirondack Chair.

TV, Adirondack style!

Before the sun set and the museum closed, we scampered over to the back of the museum to take one final glimpse of Blue Mountain Lake. As dusk approached, a couple of loons trumpeted over the lake. It was absolutely beautiful. I miss it so much.

Thanks for reading. If you are ever in the Adirondack region, check out the museum. It’s a blast!

Going Loon-y

I was helping my son with his school work today. For one assignment, he had to compose a paragraph of an exciting trip he’s taken. He chose to write about our summer trip to Blue Mountain Lake, but was having difficulty getting started. To inspire him, we looked through some of the photos of our trip. We ooo-ed and aahh-ed at these two photos.

I also located a video of the call of the loon, to help him remember the loons on Blue Mountain Lake. This is the video I found– so good, I just have to share.

*siggghhhhh*

Can we go back, right now?

A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 3

We spent the better part of a day at Fort Ticonderoga, taking in the magnificent sights of the Adirondack Mountains and Lake Champlain, absorbing the amazing and sometimes tragic history, and exploring the fort’s numerous labyrinthine pathways and alcoves. And this was all before we had even entered one building! Read Part 1 and Part 2 of our visit.

New visitors are strongly urged to visit the visitor’s hall and view a movie about the fort. Even though we are very familiar with Fort Ticonderoga history and importance in battles, we sat and enjoyed the video. I was especially intrigued with the history of its restoration. You can read about that in my previous post, A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 2.

There is SO much to see inside the buildings that I cannot possibly do it justice here. I only highlight what I found interesting, and even then I must condense it. I highly recommend that you visit the Fort, there’s something for everyone there.

Both stories of the buildings are loaded with fort memorabilia and quite a number of breathtaking archaeological finds. I was awed by this: one of the old metal armor breastplates presumably made by the first French soldiers here in the 1750s. The plaque card says the armor was discovered in 1941, built into the wall. Because of its unusual position in the wall construction, archaeologists believe the armor is a votive offering by the French masons, for “good luck.”

There were many such artifacts to be seen:

This blew me away. A piece of her wedding dress?!

A watch key was a small metal device. With it, the watch owner could wind the watch. Amazing!

George Washington had good ol’ snuff. Well, at least the snuff BOX. Read more

A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 2

In A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga, Part 1, I discussed the amazing views of the fort and its very important role in the defense of pre-colonial settlements and American Revolutionary strategy.

After soaking in the glorious sights and enjoying a musket drill, we entered the interior ring of the fort that once housed the soldiers, their families, and the stuff that made it all tick: ammunition. Read more

The Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, NY

I’ve visited some amazing museums in my time — the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History, the New York State Museum — the Adirondack Museum in the central Adirondack region is perhaps one of the largest museums in Upstate New York. It certainly ranks as one of the most interesting and enjoyable. It took us two days to get through the museum!

Surrounded by the exquisite Blue Mountain and other Adirondack peaks, the Adirondack Museum sits nestled on the side of a mountain. The front of the museum faces Route 28, a well-maintained and easily accessible road to the museum. The rear faces the illustrious Blue Mountain Lake, with a deck offering incredible views of the lake and forested splendor beyond. Throughout the museum grounds, modern buildings and reconstructed Adirondack cabins house zillions of Adirondack paraphernalia and history.

As soon as you enter the museum’s main building, you are greeted with a full-sized sailboat. The boat perfectly epitomizes the Adirondack experience: luscious natural materials, superior craftsmanship, emphasis on the region’s hardy self-sufficiency, and the main mode of transportation amongst the park’s innumerable lakes and rivers.

We perused the building’s many display areas before embarking on the museum’s many trails to other buildings on the campus. The main building had a lot of “odds and ends.” I liked the variety and several displays brought back such memories, like this old 1960s Enchanted Forest felt hat. Oh, how I always wanted to see giant 20-foot tall Paul Bunyan at Enchanted Forest! I was a girl growing up near Syracuse and I would watch the television commercials for the place with great interest. Today, Enchanted Forest is a water amusement park, but I do think ol’ Paul stands in the Storybook Lane part of the park. Read more

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