It’s no stretch to say that Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau did more than any other individual to put Saranac Lake on the map. He was the driving force behind the transformation of an Adirondack lakeside hamlet of loggers and hunters into one of the … [Read more...] about The good doctor’s good life
Biography / Personal history
What makes Alex tick?
BOOK REVIEW By R.L. STOLZ For many folks, the mere notion of climbing a sheer cliff, rising vertically for hundreds—or perhaps thousands—of feet, is the stuff of nightmares. Doing so without a rope, or at breakneck speed, fully understanding … [Read more...] about What makes Alex tick?
Hard-learned lessons
Desperate Steps is a collection of twenty narratives of backcountry accidents and misadventures in the Northeast. The incidents are about evenly divided among Maine, New Hampshire, and the Adirondacks with one incident in Vermont and … [Read more...] about Hard-learned lessons
Philosophers at Follensby
Few incidents in nineteenth-century Adirondack history have been more often recounted than the famous Philosophers’ Camp at Follensby Pond. The story of how Ralph Waldo Emerson and an assortment of VIPs from the Concord-Cambridge axis camped for … [Read more...] about Philosophers at Follensby
Man and Nature: George Perkins Marsh
A lesson for our times When we fiddle with nature, there can be unforeseen consequences. When we fiddle with nature in big ways, entire civilizations collapse. This was the essence of a densely written book, Man and Nature; or, Physical … [Read more...] about Man and Nature: George Perkins Marsh
An Adirondack life
READERS OF the Adirondack Explorer know of Ed Kanze’s column “On the Wild Side.” In each essay, Kanze uses his conversational yet exuberant prose to teach readers about Adirondack plants and animals. It’s much the same in Kanze’s new book, a … [Read more...] about An Adirondack life