The Hemmer Cabins, Park Avenue, Old Forge

More Camp Eagle Cove Memories

At Last, a Farmer's Market for Old Forge

After a small and petty battle with small minded local opponents of the establishment of a farmers market in Old Forge, the proponents of the market won.  The Old Forge Farmers Market's first season was a great success.  This is important to everyone in the area -- to the farmers who need a market for their excellent, fresh food and goods; to the locals who need fresh food in a place where it's not always easy to get it; and to visitors to Old Forge who bring money and business to the local shopowners, who need more business to survive. The market is held each Friday afternoon behind the Old Forge Hardware in Old Forge.  Among the items for sale are fresh flowers, herbs, produce, fruits, and fresh breads.  We loved the sense of community the market created and we loved the freshness of the food.  It certainly beats the local grocery.  We look forward to next season and an even bigger success.  More information to follow as soon as we get through the winter!

An Adirondack Landmark is Sold

The Old Forge Hardware, a local landmark for over one hundred years in Old Forge, has been sold.  The imposing building and its annexes has been a major fixture in the Old Forge and Adirondack communities for my entire life, and much longer than that.  It is a family business owned by Linda and Sarah Cohen and was recently sold to Terry and Erica Wilcox Murray. This weekend, I walked through the rambling, worn and charming space with its collections and creaking floors.  I was the only customer there; the painfully cold wind whipped outside. The town seemed empty.  The Cohens will stay on and work with the new owners for now.  We wish Terry and Erica the best as they take on this new and big challenge -- to preserve a real Adirondack landmark and to keep it going in the spirit in which it has been run all these many years.

At Rocky Point, Fourth Lake, Early 1900's

Memories of Cohasset

I remember taking walks to Cohasset during my childhood, after dinner, to buy candy from the little store in that charming inn on Fourth Lake. Now, Cohasset has become what so many other of the old, great hotels of the Adirondacks have become - private homes. The old hotel was demolished, killed, really. Now there are a bunch of small and unremarkable houses on the point where the majestic old hotel once stood.

An article from the Syracuse newspaper from June 1929:

COHASSET ON FOURTH LAKE, BEAUTY SPOT
Consists of Hotel and Group of Small Cottages

Old Forge, June 1 - High on a wooded knoll overlooking the beautiful south shore of Fourth Lake stands Cohasset. Surrounded by towering pines and birches, the cool depths of the forest are brought to the very verandas. Below the grove surrounding the hotel, a wide sand beach circles the point jutting out into the lake, offering a romp or lounging place where one is enchanted by the sparkle of the crystal water in the sunlight.

Cohasset consists of a main hotel and a number of modern cottages all placed within communicating distance and connected by enticing paths through the woods and along the shore of the lake. The lower floor of the main building is flanked by broad verandas whereon one may find quiet seclusion in a shaded nook or join the happy family of guests bound together through the mutual enjoyment of the inspiring natural beauties.

Cottage life at Cohasset offers an ideal vacation for a family with children or a group wishing to stay by themselves. The buildings are clean and attractive, with big open fireplaces and the conveniences of the main hotel.

Cohasset is reached by two trains daily from Utica and two trains daily from Montreal to Thendara, then taking either a train or a taxicab to Old Forge, which makes connections with the steamboat up the lake. Motorists may go by State road from Utica to Old Forge with a good shore road leading from there to the camp, seven miles distance.

Street Scene, Old Forge, New York

The Forge House, Old Forge, New York

A Busy Day in Old Forge

Historic Preservation on First Lake Pond

The Hemmer Cottage on the shores of First Lake Pond in Old Forge, has been restored to its original beauty. The cottage was moved from its site and transported to a new site donated by Sarah and Linda Cohen. The cottage has been reshingled in hemlock bark by local builder Mike Marleau. It is an example of local interest in historic preservation and stands as a successful example of a community working together to save a part of its own past from demolition or decay. There are more historic buildings in the park that need attention and funds to ensure their continued survival. The Adirondack Architectural Heritage group is doing some of the work to help ensure that historic preservation and awareness of these treasures continues to be a part of life in the park.

The Snow Train!

This is a postcard of the "Snow Train" arriving in Thendara, New York, with skiers ready for a festive day on the slopes. We have not yet ventured out to McCauley Mountain in Old Forge to enjoy a little skiing, but it used to be, and perhaps still is, a popular winter activity. The trains, of course, are long gone. The Adirondack Scenic Railroad still runs, mostly as a tourist attraction, stopping in Thendara near Van Aukens Inne. We've never had any guests arrive on trains, and yet trains were the catalyst for the development and increasing popularity of the Adirondacks. Railroad barons had great camps built and private railcars to shuttle them to the woods. And in the beginning, the railroads were the best, fastest, easiest route to the wilderness. Roads had not been built and developed. Railroad history is everywhere in the Adirondacks, but unfortunately today it is mostly just that - history.

A View of First Lake Pond, Old Forge

Main Street, Old Forge, New York

Old Forge Gets DMV Office at Long Last

SEWARD TO BRING D.M.V. OFFICE TO OLD FORGE
Senate grant to help open satellite office
Saturday, November 4, 2006

Town of Webb residents will get a local office of the Department of Motor Vehicles as the result of a $75,000 senate grant announced today by State Senator James L. Seward in Old Forge. Seward, who announced the funding at the Town of Webb Visitors' Center, was joined by Herkimer County Clerk Sylvia Rowan, who requested the funding. "The funding will enhance county services to Webb residents without pressuring local property taxes. Now registering a car, snowmobile or boat will get easier," Seward said. "It's about bringing government closer to the people."The senate grant will help purchase equipment, furnishings, supplies and telephone connectons to establish a satellite DMV office in Old Forge to provide improved customer service to Old Forge area residents. Residents will be able to get drivers' licenses and take care of vehicle registrations at the site.

Topographical Map of Old Forge Area

This is a topographical map of the Old Forge area of the Adirondacks. The Blue Spruce Motel is a little local motel marked on the map. The large lakes in the center are First, Second, Third and Fourth Lakes of the Fulton Chain of Lakes. The large single lake to the right is Little Moose Lake, part of the Adirondack League Club.

The Fabulous 1950's

The Forge Motel, on First Lake Pond in Old Forge, could be a great 50's campy retreat if it was restored to its original fab 50's glory. Here is a typical room in the motel, as originally furnished with its great vintage fabrics, television on a rolling stand, and other furnishings of the period. There is a modern side to the Adirondacks - but it's a very 50's modern side. Boomerang tables and bamboo. Just like this.

Winter Lodge, Adirondack League Club

The Fulton Chain of Lakes Dam

This dam at the head of First Lake Pond is in Old Forge, New York. It feeds into the Moose River and eventually goes all the way to the Hudson River. Lake levels are monitored and changed by opening or closing the dam. In the fall, the lake level is lowered to protect docks and boat houses from the damage caused by the freeze/thaw cycle. A rebuilt covered bridge sits nearby, from which you can see this view. First Lake Pond connects through a channel to First Lake of the Fulton Chain of Lakes.

Good Adirondack Advice at the OF Hardware

This sign hangs in the Old Forge Harware. The OFH is certainly the best place to shop and spend a rainy day in Old Forge. It's a truly old fashioned general store, with ancient wood floors that creak as you walk across them, and a surprise around every corner. We like to visit the store often to talk with our favorite sales person, Jimmy, who mans the front cash register faithfully. He knows everything in the store and everything about anything to do with building, hardware, maintenance and Adirondack lore. So it's an experience not only about buying cool stuff, but about visiting with friends. Sarah Cohen and her sister Linda Cohen, the owners of the store, founded by their great-grandfather (I think), Moses Cohen. It is a family owned store in an era of bland, concrete, impersonal "super" stores, like Wal-Mart and Target. In some respects, it reminds me of a little old sandwich shop that died a long, slow death in Ann Arbor, Michigan, called Drake's. Drake's was the same when my parents attended the University of Michigan as it was when I did so, many years later. But, in the end, it could not stand up to Starbuck's and the other faster, more efficient places that take credit cards and have websites. But the Old Forge Hardware is still kicking. We hope it doesn't suffer the fate of Drake's and that it continues to serve and entertain visitors for many years into the Adirondack future.

Suzanne Farrell's Island Retreat

One of Balanchine's muses has a home on Fourth Lake. Former New York City Ballet principal Suzanne Farrell, escapes to Cedar Island, shown here many years ago in one of its more rustic past lives, each summer. She ran a ballet camp on the island for many years. There is a dance studio on the main part of the property, a stone house, and several little bungalows scattered about. The dancers stayed in the little bungalows, with sheepskin rugs on the floors and bright tapestries hanging across the rooms. I visited the island once, for an hour or so, thanks to my sister, who was a ballet student of Ms. Farrell's sister, Donna. It remains pretty rustic, though I think the lean-tos are now gone.