Some of the northern Adirondacks' most beloved ski areas have sadly not survived the test of time despite the pristine powder found from the High Peaks to the St. Lawrence. Even after hosting the Winter Olympics twice, Lake Placid hides fourteen abandoned ski areas. In the Whiteface area, the once-prosperous resort Paleface, or Bassett Mountain, succumbed after a series of bad winters. Juniper Hills was "the biggest little hill in the North Country" and welcomed families in the Northern Tier for more than fifteen years. Big Tupper in Tupper Lake and Otis Mountain in Elizabethtown defied the odds and were lovingly restored in recent years. Jeremy Davis of the New England/Northeast Lost Ski Areas Project rediscovers these lost trails and shares beloved memories of the people who skied on them.

The People & Places of the Adirondacks collection contains a variety of story types: original works of hard history, the lives of unusual people, noteworthy accomplishments, groundbreaking inventions, remarkable mishaps, oddities, and humor. They all have one thing in common: each is rooted in the North Country, defined here as the Adirondacks and foothills. The region's past is filled with relative or complete unknowns who were, in fact, highly accomplished individuals. Many of the chapters here reveal their stories, which are well worth preserving. Those and others are presented with a purpose that is threefold: to educate, amuse, and entertain. In this volume: Hats for Horses: Was it Really a Thing? You Bet!; The Mandrake Tupper Family's Remarkable Civil War Record; Chicken Theft: Once a Prison-Worthy Crime; Catamount Mountain: A Dynamite Movie Role; Homing Pigeons in the Adirondacks; Eddie "Phat Boy" Babbage: Big, Bold, and Beloved; The Greatest Rescue in Adirondack History; An Adirondack Photograph Makes Newspaper History; Ticonderoga Canines: Doggone Good Friends; Lake Champlain Fishing Shanties: Faster than a Speeding Bullet ...; John C. Austin: Wanted--But was He Dead or Alive?; No Bones Were Broken: True Tales of Tumbling Linemen; Rouses Point, Border Village: So Many Famous Visitors!; Garrett Cashman: The Birdman of Albany; George Cheney: Pioneer Recorder of World Music; Fecund Families of the North Country; Henry Harrison Markham: Wilmington to West Coast Governor; Rooftop Highway Déjà Vu; The Dueling Sheriffs of Hamilton County; Robert Emmett Odlum: Public-Safety Daredevil; Thomas William Symons: Building America from Coast to Coast; Rock Eaters? No Way ... But Anything Else Will Do!; Adirondack Swindles: Deceptive and Detestable; North Country vs. KKK: Battling in the Streets; It was Nearly Pok-O-Rushmore!; John L. Dunlap: A Character with Character; Leonard J. Farwell: Wisconsin Governor and Forever Tied to Lincoln; Taylor-Made Communications: Schenectady to Lake Desolation.

The Adirondacks have been written about since they were first spied by Europeans more than five hundred years ago. Yet for most of the intervening centuries, few of those writers lived in the region of which they wrote--they were not part of the landscape. That has changed in recent years as writers have moved to the Adirondacks and formed a literary community. Perhaps inspired by these writers, longtime residents have discovered that they, too, could be part of such a community. From scratching out a living in the harsh landscape to the wonders of a moonlit cross-country ski, these writers celebrate life in the Adirondacks. In this remarkable collection of essays, the experiences of Adirondack natives are interwoven with the land in a part of America that is both demanding and rewarding.

The author does a thorough job in explaining the beginnings of rustic architecture and why it has a permanent place in the culture. The mix of social background and the history of the early Adirondack camps provides a designers guidebook.

Finalist for the 2017 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the Regional category The Adirondack Architecture Guide, Southern-Central Region provides a professional and insightful survey of the built environment of a unique area within New York's Adirondack Park. This book is the first field guide to the architecture of the Park, revealing the ordinary and the extraordinary, the remarkable buildings by prominent designers, as well as the hidden, unexpected gems few know exist. Based on more than seven thousand miles of fieldwork and years of research, the guide comprises more than seven hundred sites traversing the geographic range, socioeconomic strata, and historical span of the region from the late 1700s to the present. Organized according to clearly marked travel routes and fourteen tours on the ground and on the water, it features detailed maps and coordinates for each site, along with many beautiful photographs. Also included are eleven companion essays drawing on the expertise of professionals, local historians, and Adirondack residents that delve into the what, where, and why people built in the Adirondacks.

"Joseph Benton has a Bible handed down from his famous ancestor Joseph Bonaparte, the former King of Spain and older brother to Napoleon. Inside the Bible is a cipher that family legend says leads to a magnificent treasure stolen from the Spanish Royal Treasury when King Joseph fled Spain. This exciting treasure hunt blends historical facts with a terrific story and complex characters creating tension pitting environmentalist vs. developer and friend vs. friend. The story takes the reader from Lake Bonaparte to Cranberry Lake, Tupper Lake, Saranac Lake, and Lake Placid. The search leads to murder, romance and intrigue that will keep you up at night wondering to yourself...could the legend be true?" -- cover.