As owners of the Knotty Pine Restaurant in Thendara, Cindy and Gary Isensee follow in a tradition of service and quality established by the first owners and perpetuated by a series of owners going back to the 1930s.
Mary and Michael Martin built the Knotty Pine in the 1930s and sold it in 1946 to the Schultz Family who ran it until 1972 when they sold to partners Dave Tickner and John Scholl. Restaurateur Nini Ventura of Old Forge and Utica owned the Knotty Pine until 1983 when he sold it to the ...
For three quarters of a century residents and visitors in the Central Adirondacks have patronized the Knotty Pine Restaurant in Thendara. Whether for a special occasion or just a friendly evening out, to dine at the Pine is a tradition and a treat.
The founder of the establishment was Michael Martin who moved to Thendara from Rochester and immediately became known as “Little Mike” because there was all ready a “Big Mike” Skirment (a larger man) also in the business who ra ...
Every successful Adirondack Guide knew where to find fish and game for the sports he was leading. A guide also knew how to set up camp in the wilderness, prepare meals and entertain with stories around the campfire.
Red Perkins was a successful guide in the early 20th Century in the Central Adirondacks. His recollections are captured in a book by Ed Levine, “The Adventures of Red Perkins, Remembrances of an Adirondack Guide.” One of Red’s stories from the Levine book tells of ...
Hunting season
When hunters head off to hunting camp in the fall they are reenacting a tradition that started in the 19th century with the opening of the Adirondack wilderness. Modern day hunters are indebted to the Adirondack Guides who played a primary role in settling the Central Adirondacks and assuring that there would be game to hunt and fish to catch.
Even before the founding of the New York State Department of Conservation, the local Brown’s Track Guides’ Association was pro ...
President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11, 1919 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day as a day to observe the end of The Great War, World War I (that ended the year before, as agreed, on November 11) with parades, public meetings and suspension of business. Congress declared in 1926 that the date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations. In 1938 Armistice Day became a legal holiday ...
An experiment conducted by the Brown’s Tract Guides’ Association early in the 20th Century didn’t pan out, but if it had the Adirondacks might have become home to another species of wild animal—the wapiti (Cervus canadensis).
“Wapiti” translates as “white rump” in Shawnee and that is one of the features of the elk-like animal. It is also noted for a rack of antlers that may reach five feet across and weigh 20 to 30 pounds. The mature wapiti stands ...
Hollywood Hills Hotel Dedication
Although the builder Joseph W. Young died five months before his Hollywood Hills Hotel opened, a dedication celebration went forward and was certainly a social highlight of the 1934 summer season in the Central Adirondacks. The hotel itself was awe inspiring. Here is one description from a local newspaper of the day: “Type is inadequate to fittingly describe the building which out-rivals in massiveness, unique architecture and rusticity any other hotel in ...
Even when this architect’s rendering of the proposed Hollywood Hills Hotel on First Lake (now the Hollywood Hills Condominiums) was publicly displayed many residents doubted that Joseph W. Young, developer of the Hollywood Hills area, would ever build it. But in March 1933 steam shovels began work on the site leveling a spot for the 300-foot long structure. It is estimated they moved or removed some 6,000 yards of earth to accommodate the building.
One resident who believed in Mr. Young wa ...
Two men buried in Riverside Cemetery in Old Forge in September of 1934 have never been claimed by relatives and the mystery of their deaths has never been solved. They died as the result of a dynamite explosion in a house in Eagle Bay Park on Thursday, Sept. 6, 1934.
According to records, the men somehow set off an explosion that completely destroyed the house, left a deep hole in the ground and sent house parts flying considerable distances. William Olson and a man believed to be Nels (sic) Rea ...
Adirondack camping
In the introduction to Craig Gilborn’s book, Adirondack Camps, Paul Malo, an architect and Adirondack architecture specialist, wrote that at this time of year “we yearn for a place where no grass demands mowing, where woodland trails wait to be explored, streams to be paddled, mountains to be climbed—a place with few urbane amusements, but many serene lakes. Who is not thrilled by the first glimpse of distant mountains? Who does not still react with childlik ...
Skeleton on Bald Mountain
Charles and Edward Atkins of Auburn were hunting on the north side of Bald Mountain in October, 1934, when they came upon the remains of a man well-dressed in a suit and overcoat, but without any identification. The coroner determined that the fellow (just a skeleton now) had been dead for quite some time and ordered his remains taken to the Eldridge Funeral Parlor in Old Forge. State troopers were called in.
It was noted that the skeleton’s clothes were of good ...
When Old Forge Fish Hatchery Superintendent Risley submitted his resignation in late 1932, the State used it as an opportunity to permanently close the Old Forge Fish Hatchery. According to State Conservation Commissioner Lithgow Osborne, there was a water problem and the solution would cost more than the state was willing to invest to keep the operation viable.
Old Forge residents pointed out that if their hatchery was closed, Herkimer County would be without one.
Mr. Osborne explained that du ...
Fishing in the Adirondacks
Adirondack Guides provide a romantic picture of early life in the wilderness. They fished and hunted and lived a life that any young man or woman would envy; they could come and go as they pleased and no one told them what to do. Their woodsman skills were legend. They knew where prize game and the best fishing spots were. They made a living sharing these skills and guiding “sports” from the city on hunting and fishing expeditions.
It is easy to forget tha ...
Webb scholarships: honor rolls and remembrances
As high school graduation approaches for seniors at the Town of Webb Schools, the young women and men who will receive diplomas also may look forward to receiving a scholarship that will help them meet the financial burden of furthering their education. The Town of Webb Schools offer many such scholarships, a number of which carry the name of a former teacher or administrator.
These educators made a major contribution to the history and heritage o ...
The manhunt
In March 1932, when most of the world was following the story of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, residents of the Central Adirondacks were captivated by a manhunt reported by the Long Lake correspondent for The Adirondack Arrow, the newspaper of the time published in Old Forge.
Early Wednesday morning, March 2, 1932, John Blanchard and Lester Turner were taking in their traps near Blue Mountain Lake, according to the newspaper story, when they spotted a stranger who ordered them to ...
Slim Jim takes a bride
Jim Phifield, called Slim Jim, drifted into the Fulton Chain region in the early 1870s from Essex County with his dog, his gun and a boat. He told folks he was looking for a home site and wanted to settle down. There was no shortage of home sites at that time, but Slim Jim was not in a hurry. He took his time looking over the area and finally, 10 years later, picked a spot on the lower south shore of Fourth Lake where he set up housekeeping in a modest log cabin and worke ...
History can provide consolation during difficult times through an insightful look into the lives of those who came before as to how they dealt with hardships similar to what we may be facing a generation, a decade or even a century later. And where is the best place to study the hard-learned lessons of the past? As we have seen over the past months, articles from a community newspaper some 80 years ago can provide a vivid picture.
The focus of History & Heritage will change now from Ray Carr ...
From the front page of The Adirondack Arrow on February 18, 1932:
DEATH CLAIMS NOTED ACTRESS
Mrs. Minnie Madern Fiske, owner of Echo Island at Big Moose, a lover of the Northwoods and one of the 12 most famous women according to Good Housekeeping, died as she wished, away from the distraction of the Broadway bright lights on Monday of this week, at a friend’s home at Hollis, Long Island. Mrs. Fiske was 66 years of age, but, when a representative of the Arrow in October of 1926 interviewed ...
Ray Carr of Old Forge kept a bundle of issues of Old Forge’s first newspaper, The Adirondack Arrow (a weekly), that he found in the attic of a house he bought on Main Street Old Forge 48 years ago. The papers date from the 1930s when the economic climate was not unlike today. He had this idea to share them with readers of the Adirondack Express through this History & Heritage column, defined his concept, organized the old issues and pinpointed articles he thought would be of special in ...
From the front page of The Adirondack Arrow on Feb. 11, 1932:
DIRECTORS MEET
The Board of Directors of the Central Adirondack Association, Inc., with several invited guests were again royally entertained by Messrs. A. Augustus and Seth Low at the wonderful estate, Hitchins Park, Sabattis, over the past weekend. It was the regular monthly meeting of the directors and there were present A. August Low, president; A. R. Chaffee, treasurer; William J. Foley, secretary; and Messrs. Earl B. Barrett, D ...
Inside The Adirondack Arrow on February 4, 1932:
WINTER SPORTS BEGIN
In spite of most unseasonable weather and after getting their hockey rink into condition several times only to see their efforts washed away by warm weather and rain, the Inlet Winter Sports Committee succeeded in getting their hockey games started on last Friday night. The visitors were the Utica Cardinal team, and in spite of a slushy rink caused by the rain of Friday, the teams battled to a scoreless tie game and the game ...
Inside The Adirondack Arrow on January 28, 1932:
INTRODUCES BILL — Sen. or Henry L. Patrie has introduced a bill in the State Legislature to add to the State Highway system as follows: Route 25-A, commencing at the village of Lowville in Lewis County and running easterly through Petrie’s Corners, Crystaldale and via hamlet of No. 4 route easterly over old military road via Stillwater to Webb in Herkimer County, thence along southwesterly side of Stillwater Reservoir, southerly to Big ...
From the front page of The Adirondack Arrow on January 28, 1932:
EMERGENCY RELIEF
Complying with the requirements of the State Temporary Work Relief Committees who are administering the $20,000,000 Temporary Work Relief Measure, the Town of Webb has its machinery in motion for handling their share of this fund. The Town which takes up this relief measure must first submit their proposals to the Local Emergency Work Bureau at Ilion with Earl J. Timble, chairman. When approved by this committee it ...
Inside The Adirondack Arrow on January 21, 1932:
T.W.H.S. BOWS TO LOWVILLE
In one of the hottest contested games of basketball that have been played in the high school gym this season the Town of Webb High School boys went down to defeat last Friday evening, the final count being 16-9. The Lowville team had the advantage of having practically the same line-up as last season with all that the training means while Chaffee’s boys are comparatively new and the visitors out-passed the locals i ...
From the front page of The Adirondack Arrow on January 21, 1932:
FILE PETITION
Automobile Clubs all over the State are active in circulating petitions against the proposal of an increased tax on gasoline. E. J. Malley, Secretary of the Automobile Club of Utica, has sent the Arrow office petitions against any increase in tax on gasoline or fees for registering or operating a passenger car in the State of New York and anyone wishing to protest against such an increased taxation can call at the of ...
Inside The Adirondack Arrow on January 14, 1932:
UNIQUE ICE CRAFT
Arthur Parker, Long Lake’s motor wizard, has constructed a unique ice craft which has a speed of sixty miles an hour. A framework was built over a set of runners. On this a Chevrolet motor was placed with the propeller from an airplane attached to the back of the shaft. A seat has been placed in position and Mr. Parker has made several trips down the lake, sometimes carrying one or two passengers. Saturday a cap blew into the pr ...
