Adirondack Museum
While in America last month, my Dad and I took a trip into the mountains to visit the Adirondack Museum and Inlet, NY. It was great to see the museum again after all these years, I didn’t even recognise it, it’s so big now. There is always loads going on there, I’d recommend it especially if you have young children. Tickets run $18/ adults, $12 for students and teens, and $6 for kids. Tickets are good for a repeat visit within one week.
One of the strange things about this particular part of the state is that there seems to be a lot of oversized furniture, I saw large chairs on the side of the road on their own, outside of restaurants/ hotels and inside and outside of the museum itself. I don’t know what the obsession with huge Adirondack chairs is, but there certainly are a lot.
- Yep, a really big chair.
- The Brooklyn Passenger Railroad.
The Adirondack’s have a logging legacy, one of the mountains’ historical periods. It was partially because of excessive logging that the Adirondack Park was created, to save it. Over the past hundred/ hundred and fifty years the forest has grown back and nearly all of the native species have been restored. Because of the nature of the Adirondack Park (it takes up a huge chunk of the state, and is bigger than Yellowstone, Everglade, Glacier and Grand Canyon National parks combined) it contains both public and private land, including 103 towns and villages with 130,000 year-round residents. The Museum has collected relics from the logging era, particularly from the Blue Mountain Lake region the museum not inhabits:
- Logs to be taken down the mountain.
- This type of brake was created to stop sleds from careening down the mountainside, endangering both drivers and horses.
One of the more interesting exhibits they have there is a woman who builds Adirondack Guide Boats in the same manner as they would have made them for hundreds of years. It takes about 600 hours to make just one boat, and the woman is only there part-time during the summer. While she works she also answers questions, as her workshop is open to the public. Unfortunately she was not there the day we went, but her work was:
- Making an Adirondack Guide Boat.
She uses the natural curve of branches and roots to create the ribs of the boat, which will take about two and a half years to complete at the Museum, after which it will be sold for a hefty sum.
Everywhere in the Adirondacks (and a lot of New York, you can see it right in Central Park if you know what to look for) there remains evidence of the glaciers that pulled up through America and Canada, shaping our landscape:
- Giant boulders of distinctly different rock than the bedrock they sit upon is a sign of glacial activity.
On our way back (actually out of our way back) we stopped over in Inlet, NY, a place I frequented in my childhood. I have fond memories of this quiet lakeside town from when I was very young all the way through my teens. I don’t know if it’s because I’m older or because of changing times but it does seem there is not much here anymore, but Lake 4 and the surrounding area are as beautiful as ever, and families were enjoying the last remaining summer weather. It will be autumn here sooner than you think.
Dinner with Dad at the Woods Inn, Inlet NY
Dockside of Fourth Lake, Inlet NY
- Fourth Lake, Inlet NY
And then we left, because I could only spend one day in the mountains and still see everyone I needed to see.
- Leaving the mountains at sunset.
It was a great day and a fun trip back to some places I used to frequent as a child. Next time I’m back and have some time I plan to take a canoe trip and maybe camp on some of the numbered lakes. I did 50 miles through here on a weekend as a teenager and it was fantastic.
