Adirondack Experience (formerly Adirondack Museum), located on
NY-30 in the hamlet of
Blue Mountain Lake Blue Mountain Lake may refer to:
* Blue Mountain Lake (Arkansas), a reservoir in Arkansas
* Blue Mountain Lake (New York lake), a lake in Hamilton County in the central Adirondacks, New York
* Blue Mountain Lake (hamlet), New York, a hamlet in the T ...
in
Hamilton County, New York, is a
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
dedicated to preserving the history of the
Adirondacks
The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...
. The museum is located on the site of an historic summer resort hotel, the
Blue Mountain House, built high above
Blue Mountain Lake Blue Mountain Lake may refer to:
* Blue Mountain Lake (Arkansas), a reservoir in Arkansas
* Blue Mountain Lake (New York lake), a lake in Hamilton County in the central Adirondacks, New York
* Blue Mountain Lake (hamlet), New York, a hamlet in the T ...
in 1876 by Miles Tyler Merwin, that operated until the late 1940s. The museum consists of 23 buildings, 121 acres, and 60,000 square feet of exhibition space.
The opening of a brand new 19,000 square foot exhibition, ''Life in the Adirondacks,'' took place July 2017.
Adirondack Experience is open late-May to mid-October.
The museum's collections include historic artifacts, photographs, indigenous arts, archival materials, and fine art documenting the region's past in twenty-four buildings including historic structures and contemporary galleries. The museum offers special events, traditional workshops, demonstrations by artisans-in-residence, and school field trips (free for schools in the Adirondack Park). The museum contains a research library which is accessible year-round; its publication program has produced 65 books of Adirondack history, art histories, and museum catalogs.
History
The museum was created in 1948 by
Harold K. Hochschild as an effort to protect the
steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
and two cars that had been abandoned on the
Marion River
The Marion River is a river that connects Blue Mountain Lake (New York lake), Blue Mountain Lake via Utowana Lake and Eagle Lake (Hamilton County, New York), Eagle Lake (the Eckford chain) to Raquette Lake in Hamilton County, New York, Hamilton ...
Carry between
Utowana and
Raquette Lake
Raquette Lake is the source of the Raquette River in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. It is near the community of Raquette Lake, New York. The lake has of shoreline with pines and mountains bordering the lake. It is located in the t ...
s. Within a year, the
Adirondack Historical Association was formed. In 1953 the historic Blue Mountain House was purchased as the site for the museum, and after years of demolition and construction, gathering historic materials and designing exhibits, the museum opened on August 3, 1957.
In 1963-64 the museum sponsored the archaeological exploration of the
Wiawaka Bateaux Site by Terry Crandall.
Raising the Fleet: An Art / Science Initiative
/ref>
Collections
The museum collection includes a number of large objects, including a Pullman railroad car, several guide boats and an Idem class racing sailboat, a steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
, a one-room schoolhouse
One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...
, the rustic "Sunset Cottage", the complete cabin of author and ecologist Anne LaBastille
Anne LaBastille (November 20, 1933 – July 1, 2011)Hevesi, Dennis ''The New York Times'', July 9, 2011. Retrieved 11 Dec 2011 was an American author, ecologist, and photographer. She was the author of more than a dozen books, including ''Woodswo ...
, and the Log Hotel, built in 1876 and original to the museum's site, which is on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.
Other material includes:
* A fine art collection that contains over 2500 works including oil and watercolor paintings, prints, and artists' sketchbooks.
* The largest collection of historic inland wooden watercraft in the United States.
* More than 70,000 historic photographs including the work of Seneca Ray Stoddard
Seneca Ray Stoddard (1844–1917) was an American landscape photographer known for his photographs of New York's Adirondack Mountains. He was also a naturalist, a writer, a poet, an artist, and a cartographer. His writings and photographs helped ...
, Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was kno ...
, and Eliot Porter
Eliot Furness Porter (December 6, 1901 – November 2, 1990) was an American photographer best known for his color photographs of nature.Amon Carter MuseumEliot Porter collection guide. Retrieved September 12, 2008. Early life and education
Porter ...
.
* The largest public collection of rustic furniture
Rustic furniture is furniture employing sticks, twigs or logs for a natural look. The term “rustic” is derived from Latin “rusticus” (peasant; as opposed to urban). The style is rooted in Romantic tradition. In the US it is almost synonym ...
in North America. The museum owns many pieces created by Joe Bryere
Joseph O.A. "Joe" Bryere (1859 – 1941), was a guide in the Adirondacks and a noted woodworking artist whose style played a significant role in creating the rustic, “Adirondack look” we know today. Along with Ernest Stowe, Seth Pierce, George ...
, a local woodworking artist.
* The Museum's library claims the most comprehensive repository of books, periodicals, manuscripts, maps and government documents related to the Adirondack region.
In 2023, a permanent exhibition called ''Artists & Inspiration in the Wild'' will open in the Lynn Boillot Art Galleries.
Image:ADK Museum - Marion River Carry Railroad.jpg, The engine that started the museum: The Marion River Carry Railroad, at , the shortest standard-gauge railroad line in the US
Image:ADK Museum - Log Hotel.jpg, The Log Hotel, listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Image:ADK Museum - Guide Boat built on-site.jpg, This Guide boat was built on-site as a demonstration
Image:ADK Museum - Platform Tent.jpg, Platform Tent
Image:ADK Museum - Antique Strip-built Canoes.jpg, Antique Strip-built Canoes
Image:ADK Museum - Dog Sled.jpg, Dog Sled
Image:ADK Museum - Buck Lake Club interior.jpg, Buck Lake Club, one of several buildings moved on site
Image:AdirondackGuides.jpg, Adirondack Guides, one of thousands of photographs in the museum's collection
See also
*Adirondack guideboat
The Adirondack Guideboat is a rowboat that was developed in the 1840s for recreational activities in Adirondack Park. It was designed to have a shallow draft, carry three people and their gear, and be light enough to be portaged by one man, the gu ...
*Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular ...
*Great Camps
__NOTOC__
The Great Camps of the Adirondack Mountains refers to the grandiose family compounds of cabins that were built in the latter half of the nineteenth century on lakes in the Adirondacks such as Spitfire Lake and Rainbow Lake. The ca ...
* Reynoldston, New York
* The Wild Center
References
Sources
*Gilborn, Craig A. and Alice W., ''Museum of the Adirondacks'', The Adirondack Museum, 1993
External links
*
*
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Adirondacks
Historic American Engineering Record in New York (state)
Museums in Hamilton County, New York
History museums in New York (state)
Transportation museums in New York (state)
Libraries in New York (state)
Art museums and galleries in New York (state)
Open-air museums in New York (state)
1957 establishments in New York (state)
Museums established in 1957