Adirondack Land Trust Preserves Iconic View

The Adirondack Land Trust, which split off from the Adirondack Nature Conservancy last year, has acquired 4.6 acres in Keene that form part of an iconic view of the region’s mountains. The parcel lies in a meadow that was once home to a beloved red barn. Following is a news release from the land trust.

KEENE, NY — A family’s donation of land to the Adirondack Land Trust will protect part of a beloved vista of Pitchoff, Cascade and Porter Mountains in the town of Keene.

Howard and Darcy Fuguet, whose families have owned land in Keene since the early 1900s, donated 4.6 acres near the intersection of Routes 9N and 73, including 1,000 feet on the East Branch of the Ausable River. The Adirondack Land Trust will protect the land until it is eventually transferred to New York State’s Adirondack Forest Preserve. The transaction helps conserve a renowned view as well as a section of wild riverfront.

A sagging red barn that sat in the foreground of the scene succumbed in 2016, but a piece of the picture will remain intact, thanks to the generosity of the Fuguets. The Fuguet family, as stewards of this property for a century, wanted to preserve the resource for future generations. They live nearby and are keeping another 12 acres they own across the river, protected under a deed restriction that prevents building. Their land is posted with a sign that welcomes walkers, “so that others may enjoy this site and a view of the meadows and the shoreline,” Mr. Fuguet said.

This gift of land allows the Adirondack Land Trust to carry out a small transaction with outsize conservation impact at low cost. The land trust will incur an estimated $14,000 in costs before it is able to transfer the land to Forest Preserve.

“This lovely property is part of an extraordinary view that everyone can enjoy. We are delighted to be able to help keep it that way,” said Adirondack Land Trust board chairman Bill Paternotte.

 In 1869, author Alfred Billings Street was stunned by this view as he climbed Spruce Hill. “Turning my head accidentally, a most grand prospect, even in this enchanted region of grand prospects, broke upon me. There surged the Keene Mountains, rolling gigantic billows in softest, sweetest azure upon the valley, like those of an ocean that might whelm the world,” he wrote.

Founded in 1984, the Adirondack Land Trust works to protect farms and forests, undeveloped shoreline, scenic vistas and other lands contributing to the quality of life of our communities as well as the wildness and rural character of the Adirondacks. The land trust has protected 23,037 acres to date.

To learn more, visit adirondacklandtrust.org or contact [email protected], (518) 576-2400.

Keep up with news of the Park. Subscribe to the Adirondack Explorer today: https://goo.gl/PeuX5X