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The Magazine of the Mountains since 1969

June 2017

Hidden Heritage

Hidden Heritage

There is a fable circulating in these mountains: “The Indians didn’t live up here.”

It is false.

Nevertheless, if you ask almost anyone with a taste for Adirondack history you will likely hear one or more explanations for why the uplands were avoided by Native Americans. It was too cold for them. The soil was too sandy for crops. They were only passing through to hunt. Because of such beliefs, standard accounts of Adirondack history have more to do with white lumberjacks, hoteliers or seekers of uninhabited wilderness than indigenous people living with minimal impact on the land for thousands of years.

Death of Jon Cody

Death of Jon Cody

When my son, Noah, emailed me to tell me Jon Cody had died, in July 2015, I was at our cabin on the Saranacs recovering from a stem-cell transplant. I read the message on my phone while sitting at the picnic table in the sunshine and let it sink in. When I called an hour or two later, Noah said that Gail, his mother, had heard it from a friend of hers in Stony Creek. They found him at his cabin in West Stony Creek the day before. He was 75. Noah didn’t know much more.

Seeds of Revival

Seeds of Revival

For 169 years the Essex County Fair has celebrated the region’s agricultural heritage. But lately attendance for the five-day extravaganza of fried food, livestock exhibitions, carnival rides and demolition derbies in Westport has wobbled. One explanation—“Farming is just dying in Essex County”—was related to Schroon Lake business owner Lisa Marks about a year ago.

“I was astounded that anyone could make that statement,” says Marks. After all, the county’s thriving local food scene was one of the things that had lured her and her husband, Edward, to open Pine Cone Mercantile and North Woods Bread Company here in 2015. “I think [local farming] is more vibrant than ever,” she says.

Links to the Past

Built 30 years after the Civil War and nestled between Loon Lake and the southern base of Lookout Mountain in Franklin County, the Loon Lake Golf Course was carved into the woods, manicured and maintained for more than a century before absentee landlords raised the leasing fee and made it prohibitive to operate. My wife, Cheryl, and I were the last people to lease the course. We poured our hearts and souls into keeping it going, but it wasn’t enough.

Raquette Lake Navigation Company

Raquette Lake Navigation Company

A luxury dinner cruise with Raquette Lake Navigation Company starts in the Pohls’ rustic family home, tucked behind a hill that rises up from the water’s edge. A longtime-customer-turned-front-desk-employee folds napkins and takes last-minute reservations over the phone (“chicken, prime rib, salmon, sea bass or flank steak?”) in the cluttered, wood-paneled office. Rocky the cat slinks by.

Packaging the Park

Packaging the Park

Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba—China’s version of Amazon.com—is one of the richest people in China, worth an estimated $29 billion. In 2015 he purchased a 28,100-acre chunk of the northwestern Adirondacks.

On Sale Now

December 2025

Pulling back the curtain on the rough-and-tumble world of backcountry guides, plus Old Forge’s beloved Strand Theatre, the life of a master woodworker, Santas on the slopes and more!

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