Adirondack

The Adirondack region evolved over years from vast, impassable wilderness to a land of logging camps, tanneries, sawmills, and small settlements. By the end of the 19th century, the area grew again, becoming a tourist destination famed for its great hotels, quaint inns, cottages, and rustic cabins. The hotels and inns spread throughout the Adirondacks, beginning after the Civil War and continuing during the Gilded Age between World Wars I and II. The region drew the rich and famous, as well as workers and families escaping the polluted cities. This volume contains 200 vintage images of those famed accommodations that catered to years of Adirondack visitors. Most of the buildings seen in this book no longer exist, having been destroyed by fires, the wrecking ball, or simply forgotten over time. Adirondack Hotels and Inns provides a timeless look at the vacation retreats of the past.

New York's mountainous Adirondack region, once considered foreboding and impassable, has evolved during the last three centuries into a desirable place for people to live and visit. Native Americans, trappers, hunters, and anglers first arrived to tap the wilderness resources offered by the Adirondack Mountains. Lumbermen, miners, and tannery workers settled the back woodlands to harvest the logs, dig the minerals, and collect the hemlock bark. Others came to clear trees and farm the land, and settlements soon dotted the landscape. The travelling public found the healthy, pure air and the beautiful mountains with miles of waterways a welcomed alternative to the hot, smoky cities. The tourist industry grew and flourished with hotels, cabins, cottages, summer homes, and wealthy estates spreading throughout the six million acres of Adirondack Park. Communities also continued to thrive as visitors found the area impossible to leave. Adirondack People and Places celebrates this mountainous country where the wilderness truly became a place for people.