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    Old Forge and the Fulton Chain of Lakes
    Old Forge and the Fulton Chain of Lakes
    Old Forge and the Fulton Chain of Lakes
    Ebook186 pages58 minutes

    Old Forge and the Fulton Chain of Lakes

    By Linda Cohen and Peg Masters

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    Old Forge is nestled at the foot of the Middle Branch of the Moose River, more commonly known as the Fulton Chain of Lakes. Year-round accommodations at the Forge House in 1871 and dependable rail service in 1892 led to permanent settlement of the hamlet. Within a decade, Old Forge emerged as the residential and commercial hub of the Central Adirondacks and a popular destination and gathering place for guides, sportsmen, and wilderness tourists. For the sightseer who strolls around Old Forge today or enjoys a cruise up the eight lakes in the Fulton Chain, the landscape is dotted with scores of century-old dwellings, Victorian cottages, rustic camps, and even a few grand old hotels.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439638910
    Old Forge and the Fulton Chain of Lakes
    Author

    Linda Cohen

    Linda Cohen and Peg Masters are both descendants of 19th-century pioneer settlers of the Old Forge region. Linda has been an active member of the local historical association and a board member since 2004. Peg has served as the town historian for the past 10 years and conducts historic walking tours every summer. They coauthored Old Forge: Gateway to the Adirondacks in 2003.

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      Book preview

      Old Forge and the Fulton Chain of Lakes - Linda Cohen

      Masters

      INTRODUCTION

      In this Venice of the woods, highways are rivers, paths are streams, and carriages are boats.

      —Adirondack Guidebook, William Murray, 1870

      In 1792, Alexander McComb purchased a patent from the state for 2 million acres of land in northern New York. John Brown of Providence, Rhode Island, acquired a 210,000-acre parcel that encompassed the Moose River territory in McComb’s Purchase in 1798. Brown hired surveyors to map the region and divide the tract into eight townships. To encourage settlers, he had a dam built on the Middle Branch of the Moose River in Township 7, present-day Old Forge, to provide power for a gristmill and a sawmill. A handful of hearty pioneer families came by oxcarts over a primitive 25-mile road to clear the forests for farms and build the first dwellings in what is still called Brown’s Tract. John Brown’s untimely death in 1803 turned over the destiny of the settlement to his descendants.

      A historic milestone was achieved in 1811, when the state legislature passed the Act for the Improvement of the Internal Navigation of the State for the purpose of establishing a communication by means of Canal Navigation between the Great Lakes and the Hudson River. Steamboat inventor Robert Fulton was assigned to investigate the feasibility of constructing a canal along the western corridor of the northern wilderness from the Mohawk Valley in Central New York to the St. Lawrence River. Fulton wrote an enthusiastic report of his journey through Brown’s Tract along an unnamed chain of lakes. Although a canal route was deemed unsuitable due to various overland carries between the waterways, the eight lakes formed by the Moose River that he identified have since been known as the Fulton Chain.

      John Brown’s son-in-law, Charles Frederick Herreshoff, also came to Brown’s Tract in 1811 and found the settlement largely abandoned and the gristmill and sawmill in disrepair. He built a substantial manor house overlooking the Moose River but soon discovered the climate was too harsh for farming. An attempt to process iron ore also proved futile. Plagued with enormous debts, Herreshoff took his own life in December 1819. The location of his old forge just below the dam on the Moose River became a meeting place for trappers, sportsmen, and their guides and a place name on New York State maps in the latter part of the 19th century.

      Old Forge and the Fulton Chain of Lakes pictorially chronicles the permanent settlement of the Moose River region. It begins in the post–Civil War era when enthusiastic sportsmen and their guides wandered freely through the lush mountains and along the waterways in search of game, respite, and camaraderie. Primitive transportation allowed only the hale and hearty into their paradise and held the lumbermen at bay.

      All that changed dramatically in 1891–1892 with the construction of the Mohawk and Malone Railroad through the western corridor of the Adirondacks by Dr. William Seward Webb. Dependable transportation brought thousands of new visitors to Old Forge, including influential governors, judges, cabinet members, and captains of industry, who attached their Pullman cars to the regular passenger trains. Some of these notable sportsmen banned together and established private hunting clubs, while others bought large tracts for private estates, known today as Adirondack Great Camps. The demand for elaborate cottages and resort hotels in the Fulton Chain region led to year-round employment.

      Many of the photographs in Old Forge and the Fulton Chain of Lakes highlight the vintage structures that were built by pioneer families for homes and resort businesses as well as the camps, lodges, and hotels that accommodated seasonal residents and visitors. Over the years, a number of historic structures have succumbed to fire. Other privately owned landmarks, such as the grand hotels, have been torn down due to the changing lifestyles of vacationers. Paradoxically, the state-owned land surrounding Old Forge today, purchased or reclaimed because of delinquent back taxes, is now a rejuvenated woodland paradise and a wildlife habitat that offers unlimited recreational opportunities. In accordance with the Forever Wild clause in the state constitution, structures deemed nonconforming to the wilderness have been removed.

      David Beetle, a regional author, wrote in the 1940s, The Moose flows through so many lakes that most people have forgotten that it is a river. For nearly 200 years, the eight lakes in the Middle Branch of the Moose River have been called the Fulton Chain of Lakes. While Old Forge is the most populated community on the chain of lakes, its growth has been intrinsically linked to the industries, resorts, and settlers along the river’s North and South Branches, as shown in many photographs in chapters two and five of the book. Also included are intriguing images and stories of the various recreational youth camps that brought, and continue to bring, thousands of urban children to the region. Their summer visits strengthen their physical and mental wellbeing, create lifelong friendships, and help establish an enduring appreciation for the natural beauty of the Adirondack Park.

      While many of the photographs in this book emphasize the historically built environment, images of individuals and groups have been included to express the ingenuity, perseverance, and humor of the people who have shaped the history of the region. With an economy largely based on tourism today, the unpredictable climate that halted permanent settlement two centuries ago continues to present challenges to the nearly 1,200 full-time residents of Old Forge. A nostalgic look at the fine old heritage that descends from our woodsmen founders helps to guide the people of the Fulton Chain region through the challenges of the 21st century.

      One

      OLD FORGE AN ADIRONDACK WILDERNESS SETTLEMENT

      The Otis Arnold house overlooked the Moose River in present-day Thendara and was the first known 19th-century hostelry in the region. For more than 40 years,

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