Reasons to Buy the Book, #3

There’s an old saying that says in effect; “the people make the place.”

Well a hundred years ago is a long time though, and history sometimes forgets the people “that made the place.”

One of things I enjoyed while writing, The Hulett Hotel Fire on Lake George was researching the many interesting characters that the book encompasses.

Would you like to know about the tragic, fatal accident that the District Attorney was involved in roughly a year before the arson trial started? Would you like to know which participant in the trial had a relative who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize? Want to learn which witness had trouble testifying about their own name?

To learn the answers to these and many other interesting questions you’ll definitively want to buy:
The Hulett Hotel Fire on Lake George.

Pre-order the book here and you’ll have it as soon as it is released.

Reasons to Buy the Book, # 4

Do you like a good story? How about a good mystery?

Well you’ll read a really great story and find a mystery in a mystery in the book;
The Hulett Hotel Fire on Lake George.

A mystery in a mystery? You’re probably asking; “What’s he talking about?”

Well, I can’t give it away, you’ll have to read the book. What I can tell you is that as I delved deeper into the story, the material was quite rich and very interesting. So rich in fact, I can say that you will thoroughly enjoy it!

To learn more, you’ll definitively want to buy:
The Hulett Hotel Fire on Lake George.

Pre-order the book here and you’ll have it as soon as it is released.

Reasons to Buy the Book, #5

Did you know that the Hulett Hotel Fire of 1915 was one of the largest fires ever on the shores of Lake George?

In chapter five of The Hulett Hotel Fire on Lake George you’ll learn what happened on that day in 1915 when the fire occurred.

You’ll see the only known photographs of the two people who discovered the fire, and you’ll learn how the unique weather conditions that day made extinguishing the fire almost impossible. You’ll also learn how many other houses the fire spread to and what happened to those cottages on that fateful day!

To learn more about these interesting events, you’ll want to buy:
The Hulett Hotel Fire on Lake George.

Pre-order the book here and you’ll have it as soon as it is released.

New Book Coming Soon


I’m happy to unveil the cover of my new book:
The Hulett Hotel Fire on Lake George
.

On a clear November day in 1915, the Hulett Hotel on Lake George caught fire and burned to the ground. Quickly rebuilt, the “new” Hulett became a popular tourist destination. However, after the rebuilding, a mysterious figure claimed that the hotel’s owner, William H. Wyatt, had paid him to start the fire and a sensational arson trial followed.

Now you can read about these strange happenings in vivid detail, including the testimony offered at the trial and never before seen photographs which have their own mysterious origins.

You’ll also read about Wyatt’s other hotel on nearby Lake Bomoseen, Vermont that burned down in 1912 and see unique pictures of that hotel on fire. You’ll view never before seen photographs of the ashes of the burned Hulett Hotel and construction of the new Hulett Hotel. And you’ll learn about the trial that followed.

“The Hulett Hotel Fire on Lake George” will be released in mid-February but can be pre-ordered starting today from History Press.

The book can be ordered here from the publisher.

What better thing to do on a cold winter day than read a great book about the Huletts Landing fire of 1915 and the arson trial that followed.

I will continue this entire week with the top reasons why you will want to add this book to your collection!

Grow Those Beards

Contestants from last year’s Adirondack Donegal Beard Contest in 2011. This year’s Donegal Contest will be held at Basil and Wicks (formerly Casey’s North), on Route 28 in North Creek, NY, March 17, 20011. Contestants should be clean shaven on New Years Day.

Participants in the 4th Annual Adirondack Donegal Beard Contest are preparing to shave their facial hair New Year’s Day in anticipation of growing their Donegal Beard for this year’s contest. New beardsman are welcome to take part in the event, which is free and open to the public.

The Donegal Beard (also called a Chin-curtain or Lincoln) is an Irish-style beard that grows along the jaw line and covers the chin – no soul patch, no mustache. Contestants must be clean shaven January 1st and grow a Donegal Beard by St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th).

The contest will be held from 4 to 7 pm, Saturday (St. Patrick’s Day), March 17, 2012 at Basil and Wicks (formerly Casey’s North), on Route 28 in North Creek, NY. Judging will be begin at 6 pm, prizes will be awarded. There will be live entertainment.

Judging is based on the criteria that includes Manliness, Fullness, Length, and Style and Sophistication.

Bits of Everything

Kateri Tekakwitha Rising to Sainthood

The Montreal Gazette reports that Pope Benedict XVI has deemed Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha worthy of sainthood, so she will be canonized at a ceremony sometime in the future.

Fort Ticonderoga to Study Repair of Walls

The New York History Blog has a story about a grant awarded to the Fort Ticonderoga Association.

For the Holidays: Sistine Chapel in 360 Degrees

The Vatican has put the entire Sistine Chapel on line. (Spin 360 degrees, up and down and drill in.)

Rabid Goat Confirmed in Essex County

A rabid goat has been confirmed north of Huletts Landing in Essex County.

In addition to this, there have been 4 rabies positive raccoon’s, multiple skunks, and 1 fox in Washington County within the past year.

Rabies is spread through the saliva or brain tissue of an infected animal. In many instances, it comes through a bite. If treatment is initiated promptly following a rabies exposure, rabies can be prevented. If a rabies exposure is not treated and a person develops clinical signs of rabies, the disease almost always results in death.

In animals, many times the animal gets aggressive. In other instances the animal grows lethargic. Seeing a nocturnal animal in the daytime can be a sign that that animal has rabies.

Exposure to rabies may be minimized by:

* having all pets vaccinated and keeping them up-to-date on their vaccinations

* avoiding contact with all wild animals, especially those acting abnormally (such as being out during the day when they are typically nighttime animals)

To control the spread of rabies in wild animals, such as raccoons, the New York State Department of Health oversees projects to distribute a special bait containing rabies vaccine. Baits are placed in areas frequented by raccoons in order to immunize them against rabies.

Please be careful, rabies has been found in numerous animals nearby.

Bits of Everything

NY Times: Adirondacks Warming?

The NY Times follows Jerry Jenkins, an ecologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Hard frosts that a generation ago came in mid-September now arrive in October. Lake Champlain, a huge freshwater body that divides New York and Vermont, once froze over completely every winter, but now remains open in the middle some years.

Groups Look at Lake George Dredging Differently

The Post Star describes the debate.

Cell Service Almost Complete for Lake George

The Lake George Mirror reports that the entire basin has almost complete coverage.

Old Ticonderoga Hospital to Get New Use

The Press Republican reports on the old Moses-Ludington Hospital.

Teddy Roosevelt’s Home Set for Rehab

Yahoo and the AP take a look Roosevelt’s classic home.

Bits of Everything

Theodore Reale, Designer & Engineer of Huletts Sewer Systems, R.I.P.

Recently the Times of Ti carried the obituary of Theodore Reale. “Ted” as his friends called him, was the principal of A.P. Reale and Sons, the primary designer and contractor for both of the sewer systems that serve Huletts.

Washington County Leaders Want Budget Lowered

The Post Star reports that the 2012 Washington County budget was struck down by the county Board of Supervisors who didn’t like the 1.97% increase.

Know Every Adirondack Tree? If Not, Buy This

The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) is reprinting Forests and Trees of the Adirondack High Peaks Region by the late Edwin H. Ketchledge, the definitive guide to Adirondack trees. What a great gift idea! Read the Adirondack Almanack to learn more.

Zip Line Down French Mountain Spurs Two Towns

When it comes to a new zip line, both Queensbury and Lake George are ready to lead, so says the Post Star.

The Strange Story of the Lost Dauphin of France and the North Country

A painting of Marie Antoinette with her son, Louis-Charles, on her lap. (circa 1787)

At the time of the French Revolution, the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, was known as Louis-Charles, Dauphin of France. He was abducted on August 10, 1792, when only eight years old, as the French revolution waged on.

When his parents were executed for treason under the first republic, the newly orphaned eight year old Louis-Charles would have been the nominal successor to the abolished throne.

He was imprisoned in the custody of a shoemaker named Antoine Simon. The Dauphin was kept in confinement and treated with great cruelty until he is said to have died in June 1795. He would have been 10 years old at the time of his death and was buried in an unmarked grave.

Rumors quickly spread that the body buried was not that of Louis-Charles and that he had been spirited away alive by sympathizers.

He had never been officially crowned as king, nor ruled. However, he was called by his royalist supporters Louis VII and the future Louis XVIII’s adoption of the title Louis XVIII rather than Louis XVII only added to the mystery.

Against this background, there is a legend that the Dauphin was taken secretly from his dungeon and brought clandestinely to northern New York, where there was a sizable population of Frenchmen still loyal to the monarchy. This strange story has been the subject of serious historical speculation for many years.

In the middle of the 1800’s, the Rev. John H. Hanson, an Episcopal priest, wrote a logical account of how a certain Eleazer Williams, an Episcopal priest of the North Country who died in 1858, might have been the lost Dauphin.

Williams was thought to be one of 12 children of Thomas Williams and grandson of Eunice Williams of Deerfield, Mass. who was one of the inhabitants captured by the Indians in the massacre of that village. Supposedly, eleven of Thomas Williams offspring bore unmistakable evidence of Indian heritage while Eleazer did not. Also, no record was ever made of Eleazer’s birth.

Williams himself claimed to have no knowledge of his own life before the age of twelve or thirteen. By his own account, he served in the War of 1812 as a scout and spy for American forces on the northern border of New York. After the war, he became an Episcopal missionary and was sent to the Oneida Tribe of upper New York State. He proved to be successful there, converting many of the Oneida to the Episcopal faith.

When the French monarchy was restored in 1814, hundreds of claimants came forward. Would-be royal heirs continued to appear across Europe for decades afterward.

In 1841, Prince de Joinville the younger son of Louis Phillip, the reigning King of France came to the United States. Williams would claim that the Prince had offered him a vast estate if only Williams would renounce his claim to the throne which he said he refused to do. The Prince denied this story as soon as he heard of it, saying that his only interest in Williams was as an Indian missionary.

In the February 1853, issue of Putnam’s Magazine, the Rev. Hanson, an Episcopal minister, published an article entitled “Have We A Bourbon Among Us?” That article also supported Williams’ claims. Serious historians immediately refuted Hanson’s speculations, but many others believed him and, for a while, Williams was something of a minor celebrity.

Williams died in the village of Hogansburg, NY on August 28, 1858.

The story did not die until 2000 when DNA testing proved beyond doubt that Louis-Charles had indeed died in prison.

Philippe-Jean Pelletan was one of the doctors who attended Louis-Charles shortly before his death and subsequently performed the autopsy. He removed the heart and this was not interred with the rest of Louis-Charles’s body. Philippe-Jean Pelletan tried to return Louis-Charles’s heart to Louis XVIII and Charles X, both of whom could not bring themselves to believe the heart to be that of their nephew.

The heart was stolen by one of Pelletan’s students, who confessed to the theft on his deathbed and asked his wife to return it to Pelletan. Instead, she sent it to the Archbishop of Paris, where it stayed until the Revolution of 1830. By 1975, it was being kept in a crystal vase at the royal crypt in outside Paris, the burial place of Louis-Charles’s parents and other members of France’s royal family.

In 2000 DNA testing was performed on the heart using samples from Marie-Antoinette, her sisters, their mother, Maria Theresa, and two living direct descendants in strict maternal line. The tests proved that the heart was that of Louis-Charles. It was buried in the Basilica on June 8, 2004 and forever dispelled the claims of the North Country preacher named Eleazer Williams.

(Compiled from online and print resources.)

Bits of Everything

Popular Ti Restaurant Closes

The Times of Ti reports on the closing of the Carillon Restaurant.

Lake George Rock Climbing Gets National Exposure

The Lake George Mirror tells us about Paddle to Crag on Lake George.

Saranac Lake Community Store Profiled in NY Times

The hearty residents of Saranac Lake started their own store and made the NY Times.

Cash Coming In from Trash Plant Going

The Post Star reports that Washington county will receive a windfall because we no longer have the trash plant to operate.

Lake George Land Conservancy Announces New Position

The Lake George Land Conservancy has announced the hiring of Chad Knisely as the Land Conservancy’s new Land Protection and Stewardship Specialist.

Prior to joining LGLC, Chad worked as acting director for Grand River Partners in Painesville, Ohio, where he managed land protection projects, watershed planning, community outreach and organizational fundraising.

As LGLC’s Land Protection and Stewardship Specialist, Chad is responsible for the creation of a Five-Year Conservation Priority Plan as well as an annual land management strategy for existing protected properties. He also oversees all stewardship needs for LGLC’s seven preserves and nearly 20 miles of hiking trails, as well as manage the organization’s seven conservation easements and lead public hikes and educational programs.

Chad and his wife, Amy, expect to reside in the Glens Falls area with their two young sons.

Funding for this new position has been provided in part by the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) Conservation Partnership Program. The LTA awards were announced in March, when the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the LTA joined members of the state Legislature and land trust representatives to announce $1.4 million in Conservation Partnership Program grants. The grants, funded through the State’s Environmental Protection Fund, enable local nonprofit land trusts to increase the pace, improve the quality, and ensure the permanence of voluntary conservation of private lands, resulting in significant environmental and economic benefits for communities across the state.

Bits of Everything

Volunteers Sought to Monitor Spawning Migrations

WNYT.com tells you how to become involved monitoring smelt populations.

Albany TV Station Shows Huletts

The Adirondack Outdoors blog, tells us that an Albany television station ran some pictures of Huletts.

New Rules to Help Adirondack Lakes

Denton Publications reports on new federal rules to limit mercury emissions.

Where Did Lake George’s Name Come From

The Lake George Mirror Magazine talks toponomy and Lake George.

Warren County Boat Patrols May Be Saved

The Post Star tells us that Warren County got some good news last week.

Trout Season Begins: DEC Urges Caution

WNBZ advises that cold conditions have led to a DEC warning.

How to Give a Good Slap: Courtesy of Rachael Ray

Susan Lucci visited ‘Rachael Ray’ to school the audience on how to give a proper soap opera slap.