In 1949, before Marilyn Monroe cooed and shimmied her way to becoming a screen goddess, she was just another shapely blonde starlet trying to get noticed. Which is why, one hot June day, she appeared in the little Adirondack town of Warrensburg, a few miles north of Lake George, to stand on the lawn of a brand-new prefabricated house.
Every Adirondack small town has its own cast of characters whose presence becomes as familiar as its landmarks, and just as entwined with its sense of place. For the better part of five decades, the affable Keene Valley artist Frank Owen has played a recurring role around town, with frequent appearances at the Ausable Inn, where you may find him chatting up hikers, contractors and anyone else who happens upon the only local watering hole.
After sitting vacant for a decade, Bolton Landing’s former Sagamore Pub had lost whatever luster it once possessed. But on their visits to Lake George, Paty and Richard Boccato—who have launched successful businesses on both coasts—saw it as a diamond in the rough.
Growing up in a suburb of Los Angeles, the cinder-block walls separating my family’s yard and the next-door neighbors’ were not to be breached. My brother discovered this when he climbed over to retrieve a ball and was bloodied by a pair of Irish setters defending their turf. Otherwise, we had little interaction with the people whose daily lives and personal dramas were playing out a few feet away from ours.
His artwork was called “rough and rugged as hickory stumps,” like the man himself. Friends described her as “soft, gentle, like the moss in the woods.” It was a match made in heaven, or at least the Adirondacks.
It’s doubtful that moules frites and Upper Jay were ever mentioned in the same breath before chef Zack Ryder opened the Ice Jam Inn restaurant in late 2020.
“Homey” is how Ana Walker describes Garnet Hill Lodge, in North River, where she’s the front desk clerk. “People feel comfortable enough to come downstairs in their flannel jammies and sit by the fireplace,” she says.
Newcomb, a town of around 400 that’s at least a 20-minute drive from the nearest community, is conveniently located to the stuff that brings people to the Adirondacks.
Careening down dirt trails on two wheels—usually after a quad-busting, lung-searing uphill slog—has become one of the fastest-growing outdoor activities in the Adirondacks.
I learned about the state-run campsites on the islands peppering Lake George, which—for $28 a night—allow us commoners the chance to live like rusticated Kardashians for a while.
The Adirondack Park is dotted with lakefront beaches that have it all: playgrounds, lifeguards and, often, big crowds. But with a little bit of legwork, the following lakes reward with sandy shores, pristine views and—while we can’t guarantee you’ll have them to yourself—a quieter swimming experience.
For Mike and Marci Phinney, the lake house they built in Hague isn’t just their dream home, it’s a showcase of the kind of green architecture their Saratoga Springs firm, Phinney Design Group, specializes in.
Lost hikers, splintered bones and wildfires—a forest ranger reflects on more than two decades of coming to the rescue. Plus the oldest tavern in the Adirondacks, a trip through James Bond’s Lake George, and new energy in Schroon Lake.
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