Editor’s note: These stories are from the Adirondack Explorer’s 27-year archive. Each Thursday, we share a group of stories on a favorite Adirondack topic.
March is Women’s History Month, and Adirondack Explorer has long showcased the stories of women who represent the can-do attitude of the Adirondacks. Check out a few of the highlights:
A fire tower summer
Frances Boone Seaman spent a summer as a fire observer for the private Nehasane Park on the southeastern side of the Five Ponds Wilderness in 1942 and recounted it in her memoir.
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Women with altitude
This 2005 review of Women with Altitude: Challenging the Adirondack High Peaks in Winter delves into women who brave the harsh Adirondack winters to become winter 46ers–something that was rarer 20 years ago than today. The book includes correspondence between the women and Grace Hudowalski, a longtime historian for the Forty-Sixers and the first woman to complete the 46.
A mountain for the first woman 46er
More on Grace Hudowalski, a founding member and historian of 50 years for the Adirondack 46ers. This story by former Adirondack Explorer designer Susan Bibeau chronicles a group of women hiking Grace Peak shortly after it had be named in her honor (formerly East Dix Mountain). It took 12 years of lobbying for the change before it was finally accepted in 2014 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
Remembering a legendary woodswoman
Anne LaBastille (1933-2011) was a pioneering ecologist, author, and photographer with a deep connection to the Adirondacks. Her influential writings on wilderness living inspired a generation of women conservationists in the region. She wrote 16 books, including the acclaimed “Woodswoman” series. Reporter Paul Grondahl wrote a tribute to LaBastille for the Explorer a month after her death in 2011 at 77.
Women in conservation
This story from 2018 highlights some changes in leadership bringing more women to the heads of Adirondack conservation organizations. That trend has only grown in the years since.
Women roll up their sleeves for trail maintenance
This 2019 story features the Adirondack Mountain Club’s all-women trail crew women. “It’s just not men who do hard labor … out in the backcountry,” said Charlotte Staats. “A lot of people are surprised when they come across us.”
Honoring a women’s rights activist
Inez Milholland was a labor lawyer and a women’s right activist, and led a suffragist procession ahead of Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. Her activism and dedication, made a strong case for the renaming of the mountain on her family’s land in the town of Lewis, where she is buried. This 2019 story recounts the efforts of Nancy Duff Campbell, a founder and co-president of the National Women’s Law Center, to officially rename Mt. Discovery to Mt. Inez.
More women on the trails
Women 46ers give back to the Adirondack Park during Women Only Weekend. Initiated in 1996, WOW provides an opportunity for women to contribute to trail upkeep, fostering a cooperative and supportive environment. Tasks have evolved from basic side-cutting to more complex projects like bridge construction, with volunteers learning to use various tools – all without fear of judgement. The Explorer featured WOW in this 2022 article.
Thank you for these very informative and interesting articles.
Dear Isabella,
I am disappointed that you failed to include this tribute in your “Women of the Adirondacks” list. The original story appeared in the Adk. Almanack of 1/5/24, and is also in the Ex/Al archives.
I wrote the story in an attempt to shine a light on the dedication and hard work done by forest rangers wives. They worked for free and with little official recognition of their importance to the rangers success in getting the job done for countless decades.
The forest ranger wives are some of the finest Adirondack women that I have ever known. They are truly unsung heroes of our Adirondack history.
https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2024/01/forest-rangers-wives-a-story-of-dedication.html#comments
Thanks for sharing this.
Excellent articles. Thank you.