Now for Some History: 1912

Hello Molly,

Up here again. They can’t keep me away. I miss the crowd. Will spend my time fishing. Took in Narrows (undecipherable) fair yesterday. Am here till Sunday. Drop me a card.

H.B.D.

Postcard sent from Huletts
Sepember 1, 1912

Ghost Hunters at Fort Ti – Weds Night

I already put this on the calendar, but here’s a friendly reminder that the Ghost Hunters episode filmed at Fort Ticonderoga will air Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. on the Sci-Fi channel.

http://www.fort-ticonderoga.org/news/ghost-hunters.htm

Fort Ticonderoga will also be offering Ghost Tours during the months of July and August on most Friday and Saturday nights. This might be fun because they haven’t had night tours in years. Groups of 25 only @ $35 per person.

Bits of Everything

Boy Scouts Get New Stamp

The Boy Scouts of America celebrate their 100th anniversary this year, so to commemorate this event, the Postal Service has issued a new stamp. Please remember to purchase the new boy scout stamp and all your other stamps at the Huletts Landing Post Office.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgi_HIaTJK4

States Pension Funds Not Enough

The Washington Post had an alarming story on how state governments have promised to deliver $1 trillion more in retirement benefits than they have in their pension funds.

2011 Saratoga Racing Season in Jeopardy

The Saratogian reports that if the NY City OTB closes, then the 2011 Saratoga racing season is in jeopardy.

Former Vermont Governor Celebrates Anniversary

The Burlington Free Press finds out what former Vermont Governor, Madeleine Kunin, is up to.

Now for Some History: 1884 Ticonderoga

I always try to look for historic memorabilia where the faces of people can be seen.

In a bin at a local antique store this past summer, I found a copy of the History of the Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg dated 1884. It has a chapter dedicated to every Catholic Church in the Ogdensburg diocese and that church’s history as of that date. It’s things like this, that sometimes shed a little light on local history.

There is a chapter in the book about Ticonderoga which is accompanied by a pencil sketch of the Rev. Jos. Butler.

“Father Butler was born in Ireland in 1828 and at the age of twelve went with a number of companions to study in the Island of Malta in the Mediterranean. He made his theology in Rome afterwards, and as member of the Franciscan order was ordained in the Albany Cathedral by Bishop M’Closkey in 1858. Since that times as a missionary priest Father Butler has served his order and the church in various parts of the east and west and in South America, until Bishop Wadhams appointed him to Ticonderoga, where he has remained for over a decade like all the priests in his neighborhood engaged in giving the finishing strokes to the work of former missionaries.”

“The mission has already been favored with the visits of Bishop M’Closkey and Conroy of Albany, and with one visit from Bishop Wadhams in 1873. Since Father Butler’s time the bishop has made four episcopal visitations at regular intervals of three years, confirming some 800 children whom the priest had already brought, after steady instructions, to their first communion. The debts of the parish have been removed, the property put in order, and a better organization given to the parish, which now numbers about one hundred and twenty families.”

Emails to the Editor

I received the official poster from the organizers of the Lake George Alumni Association for their evening with Rachael Ray.

Correction:

I mistakenly reported that the historic Lake George photos were donated to the Bolton Library. I was informed that the glass plates were actually donated to the Bolton Museum, not the Library. I apologize for my mistake. If you’re interested in the pictures, you want to contact the Bolton Museum.

Did Cupid Study Love?


The Education of Cupid – (Click on the Image to See Full Resolution)

François Boucher
1742
Oil on canvas,
Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin

Lincoln’s Birthday


A preserved log cabin at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Hodgenville, Kentucky. It is symbolic of the one that Abraham Lincoln was born in.

Born on February 12, 1809, in a log cabin on an isolated farm in the slave state of Kentucky, Abraham had an older sister, Sarah, who died in childbirth when he was nineteen, and a younger brother who died in infancy. His father, Thomas, had never learned to read and, according to Lincoln, never did “more in the way of writing than to blunglingly sign his own name.”

In later life, Lincoln neither romanticized nor sentimentalized the difficult circumstances of his childhood. When asked in 1860 by his campaign biographer, John Locke Scripps, to share the details of his early days, he hesitated. “Why Scripps, it is a great piece of folly to attempt to make anything out of my early life. It can all be condensed into a single sentence …. you will find in Gray’s Elegy: ‘The short and simple annals of the poor.'”

Team of Rivals
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Simon & Schuster

To see a timeline of Lincoln’s life and many other interesting photographs, check out the HistoryPlace.com.

Bits of Everything

Famous Jefferson Lake George Quote Put in Context

The Adirondack Almanack gives us great background information on Thomas Jefferson’s visit to Lake George which produced his memorable quote.

Effort to Save Bats Begins in Whitehall

I definitely noticed that the bat population in Huletts was down last summer, so this is some potentially good news that the Post Star reports.

The Immune System in Action

This is a bit dated but behold, a human polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN, or neutrophil) on a blood film, “chasing” Staphylococcus aureus. This is how your body fights back when you get sick. For real. (Requires Quicktime.)