Visitor center, OSI gift mark a new day for Newcomb

Essex County’s largest town by area has had to overcome the blending of two communities, loss of industry

By Tim Rowland

Dignitaries from across the Adirondacks cut the ribbon on a bundle of good feelings May 24 as they officially opened a visitor/community center in the town of Newcomb. The center was a long time coming but ultimately prevailed, due to perseverance and an abiding belief that this tree-carpeted town of 400 was deserving of a win.

As relieved as he was happy, Newcomb Supervisor Robin DeLoria began the ceremonies by announcing his upcoming retirement from office, and alluded to the headwinds that the community always seems to face.

But he will leave behind something few other rural Adirondack towns can boast of — a spanking new $1.9 million community hub with best-in-show electronics, kitchen equipment, meeting rooms and telework space — and a grand view of the southern High Peaks.

For Paul Hai, former councilor and associate director of education at the SUNY Adirondack Ecological Center’s Newcomb Campus, the center is more than symbolic. It unites a town with a history unlike any other in the park.

In 1963 the mining village of Tahawus — which had the fortune, or misfortune, to be situated upon a rich vein of titanium — was, almost in its entirety, jacked up and hauled on flatbed trailers 12 miles down the road to Newcomb.

“Old Newcomb” wasn’t too happy about seeing the town’s population double with people who would now have a say in their politics, their church and their lives. And “New Newcomb” — which lost its sportsmen’s paradise and community order — wasn’t too happy about it either.

“So this building is really important to me as a member of the community, because this building is for the community, and it’s represented by all of you being here today,” Hai told a celebratory, standing-room crowd of more than 80 people.

Over the years, the blending of the communities “took a lot of relationship building between the members of Tahawus who relocated here, and the members of Newcomb,” Hai said. “That continues and is reflected in this building today. And this building will stand here in Newcomb going forward another 50, 75 years, and I’m excited for that to be a beacon along 28N and to show what Newcomb is, and to invite people to experience what Newcomb is.”

The center is also a satisfying result for Newcomb’s comprehensive planning process under Bob Lilly, the grant-writing skills of museum president Joan Burke, consulting architect Chuck Higgerson and its ability to conquer adversity that at times put the center’s completion in doubt.

 “Newcomb, you’re small, but you’re mighty,” said State Sen. Dan Stec. “You have an attitude like you’re gonna roll up your sleeves and do it, (and) you have a long history of standing up for yourselves.”

Stec noted the difficulty in small Adirondack communities of “striking that balance between protecting the wonderful place we live in here, and having an economic situation where you can afford to live here and raise a family.”

By area, Newcomb is the largest town in Essex County, but it has only two people per square mile and more than 8 out of every 10 acres is protected by state ownership or easements and off-limits to development.

With the buildings of its namesake hamlet scattered on a long stretch of Route 28N it can seem even less populated than it is, but it’s hoped the community center will add cohesiveness to a center of activity that includes a health clinic, museum gallery and ballfields. An affordable housing project is planned nearby.

Jim McKenna, who worked with Newcomb on the project when he was CEO of the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST), said the centralized district can be a critical mass for growth in a town that’s willing to work for it. “I’ve seen that community spirit,” he said. “I think that’s the type of thing to me that this building represents. It represents a new life for Newcomb.”

The visitor center’s spacious lobby, which leans visually into Newcomb’s Great Camp history with its soaring ceiling, fireplace and cushy sofa and chairs, tells the town’s story with historic photos arranged by archivist Laurinda Minke.

They are an ode to the rough and tumble world of mines and log drives, but also to the genteel Great Camp Santanoni, and cutting-edge advancements in education and guide-boat technology.

A gift to the town

Another feather for Newcomb’s cap was announced by Kathy Moser, chief conservationist for the Open Space Institute, who said her organization will cede to the town the “historic core” of the lands it purchased 25 years ago from National Lead.

The core includes relics from the 19th century mining operations, the site of what was called the “ghost town of Adirondac” and the storied McNaughton Cottage where Vice President Teddy Roosevelt was encamped when he got word that President William McKinley was no longer expected to survive the attack of an assassin.

OSI has stabilized the cottage and a towering old blast furnace, built trails and creatively interpreted the old ghost town once populated by hunting camps. “When people talk to me about partnerships, I always talk about Newcomb,” Mosier said.

The Upper Works, as the area is known, perhaps best represents Newcomb’s shift, economically speaking, from hard work to play.

“I’ve been camping in Newcomb for 12 years now, and I was always saddened when I came through, because I always drove by the hopes and dreams of your past resource extraction,” said Jerry Delaney, executive director of the Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board. “You see the big garages, you know how hard people had to work (in) resource extraction. The changes in our economy have been a struggle for Newcomb, but this little tiny town keeps refusing to let it get to them. They have a vision. You have a vision, and you will succeed.”

Photo at top: A crowd gathers to celebrate the official opening on the Town of Newcomb visitor/community center. Photo by Tim Rowland