Hot Weather Ahead: The Summer of 2018: And Yesteryear
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And the place to stay in Schroon? Taylor's on Schroon Lake.
Schroon North Hudson Historical Society Summer 2018 Schedule
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Undated photo from North Hudson. Courtesy Schroon Lake - North Hudson Historical Society
For those with a love of the Adirondacks and Schroon Lake, there’s no better place to immerse yourself in history than the Schroon-North Hudson Historical Society’s Museum.
This season kicks off on Saturday (June 30, 2018), with the official opening and reception, from 12 noon to 4pm. The opening program includes displays featuring "The Women's Wall," "Working Men/Women” and "Frontier Town-North Hudson"
There’s also "Art on the Lawn" featuring Duke Connor's Paintings, a Video History of Schroon Lake and Ice Cream Social.
Schroon North Hudson Historical Society Summer 2018 Schedule
Thursday, July 5th
Storytelling @ Boathouse Theater
7:00pm
Thursday, July 12th
Hands-On Program for Children
10am - Noon
ree event for children!
Saturday, July 14th
Underground Railroad Stories - Carisbrooke -Solomon Northup Update
Monday, July 16th
Sing A Long
Local Musician Sue Tillotson will lead a "Sing A Long" @ the
Schroon Lake Boathouse Theater @ 7pm
Ice Cream Social Immediately Following the Sing A Long!
Wednesday, July 19th
French Themed Tea Luncheon
@ Silver Spruce Inn
1pm - 3pm
New Format TBA $25.00 per person
Tickets sold @ the Schroon Lake Library Only!
Thursday, July 26th
Storytelling @ Boathouse Theater
7pm
Friday, August 3rd
Dating Photos by Fashion
Slide/Lecture Program featuring Maggie Bartley; Historian, Teacher, Author & Elizabethtown, New York Trustee with Essex County Historical Society
Friday, August 9th
Storytelling @ Boathouse Theater
7pm
Thursday, August 16th
Hands-on Program for Children
10am - Noon
Free event for children!
Thursday, August 23rd
Storytelling @ Boathouse Theater
7pm
Saturday, September 1st
Museum Closes for Season @ 4pm
Monday, October 1st
Sawmills and Guitars Program
Featuring Local Artist and Speaker Eric Bright @ 7pm
A Shot of Prohibition History: Schroon's The Silverspruce Inn
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The 2017 Schroon-North Hudson Historical Society's Victorian Tea this year promises to be full of fun and surprises. The high Tea, will take place in one of the area’s most famous and history rich bed and breakfasts: The Silver Spruce Inn.
In the 1920a, during prohibition, the Inn was owned by Sallie Miller Smith, well known to enjoy a tipple or three with her sister Margaret.
The tea will feature a talk and book signing by author Maureen Werther who recently completed her novel called "Them that has" .. based on the time when the famous sisters operated the Innand made it something special.
Guests we will be able to tour the wonderful old Inn and see firsthand some of the amazing additions that Sallie Miller Smith made to what once was a ramshackle shed, before transforming it into one of the most beautiful and most talked about Inns in the Adirondacks.
Maureen Werther’s book is rich with detail and great yarns about the flamboyant sisters, includinghow seriously they took their drinking. In fact they had their own secret speakeasy.
From Maureen Werther:
The original home dates back to the 1790′s and is of post-and-beam construction, and now is the innkeeper’s quarters. In 1926 a seventeen-room addition was added to the original country home by Sallie Smith, which now includes the Inn’s guest quarters of six guest rooms, six full private bathrooms, and a prohibition area Speakeasy Bar from the original Waldorf Astoria. The “speakeasy”, which is located in the basement, and was formerly known for many years as The Tavern, is now an inactive museum piece, and is part of the Inn’s activity area.
One of the most intriguing things about Sallie’s “tavern,” constructed on the lower level of the house: you could get to the lower level by descending a long wide staircase that had very low risers – much shorter in height than average staircase risers.
Phyllis Rogers, current owner of Silver Spruce, explained to me that Sallie had a very good reason for keeping the stairs so shallow, instead of building them to more standard specifications.
Because Sallie and her sister, Margaret were big drinkers and partyers, they did not want to injure themselves if they happened to take an intoxicated tumble on the way up or down the stairs!
There are dozens of other stories about the goings on in and around Schroon Lake during Prohibition. The Adirondack region was rife with “rum-runners,” “moonshiners” and bootleggers, and the area offered prime locations for hideouts, transfers of money for alcohol, and mad dashes to the Canadian border to escape “revenuers.”
Victorian Tea on Wednesday, July 19 from 1pm to 3pm at the Silverspruce Inn, located on Rt 9, North of Schroon Lake. Not only will have a wonderful time attending. To make reserve your tickets today please call the museum at (518) 532-7615 or(518)795-0495
