Tag: Adirondacks

Deer Meadows Motel and Cottages

Deer Meadows Motel and Cottages
Deer Meadows Motel and Cottages, at 408 State Route 28 in Inlet, New York, on Seventh Lake, is another fine example of a family “motor inn.” The Adirondack Mountains have been a vacation destination for over a century. This picturesque region is home to 102 towns and villages and approximately 132,000 people. Seven to ten million tourists flock to this area annually to enjoy hunting, camping, boating, and fishing in the summer, and skiing and snowboarding in winter.

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19th Green Motel

19th Green Motel
19th Green Motel, at 2761 State Route 28 in Old Forge, New York, is located in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains, a vacation destination for over a century. This picturesque region is home to 102 towns and villages and approximately 132,000 people. Seven to ten million tourists flock to this area annually to enjoy hunting, camping, boating, and fishing in the summer, skiing and snowboarding in winter, and to see the beautiful autumn colors in the fall.

Adirondac and Tahawus Ghost Town

Photo by Michael Kleen
Photo by Michael Kleen
Photo by Michael Kleen
Photo by Michael Kleen

On September 6, 1901, Anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot President William McKinley in the stomach in Buffalo, New York. As he lay in agony, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, who was vacationing in Vermont at the time, left to be at his side, but stayed with family at the Tahawus Club in the Adirondack Mountains along the way.

Since the President appeared to be recovering, Roosevelt decided to climb Mount Marcy. On September 13, word reached him that McKinley was dying. Roosevelt rushed down the rough mountain road on his way to Buffalo, where he learned he would become the next President of the United States.

The Tahawus Club ruins can still be seen today, at the Upper Works Trailhead at the end of Upper Works Road (County Road 25). The sportman’s club was built on the ruins of an older town, called Adirondac, which businessmen Archibald McIntyre and David Henderson built for their iron miners and lasted from 1826 to 1853. A titanium mine opened in 1940, and the newly christened town of Tahawus grew to over 80 buildings. That mine closed in the 1980s, however, and the structures quickly deteriorated.

Today, not much remains of this ghost town. Beautifully illustrated interpretive signs explaining the area’s history have been erected at the site, and one building, called the MacNaughton Cottage, has been preserved. Crumbling brick chimneys stand as memorials to the rest. The remains are roughly located at 44°05’12.6″N 74°03’21.0″W.

MacIntyre Iron Furnace in Tahawus, New York

Photo by Michael Kleen
Photo by Michael Kleen
Photo by Michael Kleen
Photo by Michael Kleen

The MacIntyre Iron Furnace near Tahawus, New York, a nineteenth century relic, is as interesting as it is remote. It cost a small fortune to build, but only smelted iron for two years before flooding and inefficiency forced it to shut down. It sat for decades like some Mayan ruin deep in the Adirondack Mountains. It is both a testament to American ingenuity and its limits.

Thanks to Open Space Institute efforts, the curious can now view the 166-year-old structure from a safe distance and read colorfully-illustrated interpretive signs explaining how and why it was built and how it operated. It was actually the fourth blast furnace attempted at the site. It fired up in 1854 but after only two years its 2500°F furnace was extinguished forever. More flooding in 1857 destroyed the dams that allowed cargo boats to reach that area.

It took until the Second World War for the U.S. government to fund a railroad to the remote location, where the National Lead Company began mining titanium, originally considered an impurity that made iron mining in the area even more difficult. That mine, at Tahawus, ceased operations in the 1980s. The nineteenth-century blast furnace was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

Mosquitoes were out of control when I visited in the summer, so I would recommend coming in early fall, after the first freeze but well before snowfall. You would probably see more of the old equipment with the underbrush dead as well. Signs warn you to stay away from the stone walls, steep drop offs, and rusty equipment. I didn’t see any obvious danger, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. This is a cool site, but not worth injuring yourself, especially when the nearest hospital is so far away.

MacIntyre Iron Furnace is located off Upper Works Road, on the west bank of the Hudson River in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains. There is no address or operating hours. Its GPS coordinates are N 44° 04.735 W 074° 03.394. Explore at your own risk!