Category: Our Neighbors

Today, I had the opportunity to sit down with Jim McMaster who is the President of the Friends of Historic Huletts Landing (FHHL).

FHHL has leased the old firehouse and is making renovations to turn the building into a community resource building.

“Jim to begin could you tell us about some of the events FHHL has planned for this summer?”

The biggest effort for FHHL this year has been converting the old Huletts firehouse building to serve as a better home for our collection, as well as to keep the Mountain Grove Memorial Church Ladies Guild Library in operation. We have a tentative name, “Huletts Gallery and Library” that we hope people will find more inviting and will give a greater sense of community ownership to residents as well as renters. We would also like to see if it can serve as a gathering place for at least some community activities. The commitment for this activity will absorb more money that we have received from donations alone in the past, so we will necessarily have to put more emphasis on membership and fundraising, but hopefully not so much that it is an annoyance.

“When you say that FHHL is turning the building into a community resource could you tell our readers some of the things you were thinking about doing in the building?”

We have several objectives.

First, FHHL has housed its small collection there for years, but the display space was very limited and not well maintained. Over the years since FHHL was formed, we have saved and invested much of the money donated. As a result of the efforts of the people who came before me, we had enough money to make some small scale renovations possible. We have done several things that we hope will be well received. With the help of JVP Landscaping, we have removed the undergrowth and eyesores from behind the building and have filled and graded to provide what we hope (mosquitoes cooperating) will be a nice gathering place for Summer activities, like art shows and receptions. The area is actually rather nice and has a couple of large tree boles as well as the stream that make it interesting. We rip-rapped along the stream and hope to plan some perennial cover between the stones to make it even more erosion resistant. To protect Foster Brook we added a gravel walkway so entry via the new back door is easy from either side of the building. Hopefully we can add a chair or bench out there, and volunteers will plant some nice perennial plants. Inside, we have repainted the walls (after filling about 10,000 nail holes) and the woodwork. We even washed the curtains. We are building several shelf-display panel combinations and a couple of 4 ft x 8 ft display boards to provide lots of space for graphic collection. These will provide space for at least 80 large scale prints. We hope to place these inside the building to leave much of the wall space available for hanging of more permanent framed items. We have had several donations this year and will also frame a few items from our collection.

Judy Haggert let us scan some of her Huletts and Lake George postcard collection and also some historic photos of the hotel and ice gathering, for example. We have made large size posters of these to provide an initial display. Our hope is that members of the community will get interested enough to loan us historic pictures from their own collections for scanning or photographing so we can use these for theme display in the future, as well as add to the FHHL website (www.historichuletts.org).

Second, the Mountain Grove Memorial Church Ladies Guild) has operated a free library in the building for several years. They have been limited by shelf space to maybe 2500 to 3000 books, mostly paperbacks, but a few hard covers. We are adding free standing shelves to roughly double that number. We hope that the hours of operation (now Tues. and Thurs. 10 to 12) can be increased (volunteers needed) and that that will double to provide access to the FHHL Collection as well. The Guild will be looking for book donations to fill all those new shelves. It is important that people understand that the library is for both owners and renters in the community. Those who have a renter manual might add mention of the availability of the gallery and library. Current hours are Tuesday and Thursday, 10 am to noon, but access at other times can be arranged. We hope to install a book drop in the overhead door of the equipment bay to make it easier for people to return (or donate) books as they leave the landing.

Third, we hope to create a small space for community gatherings (not that the new firehouse isn’t pretty nice).

We are planning an informal wine and cheese reception from 5 to 7 pm on July 15 to sort of introduce the Gallery and Library to the community. Weather permitting, we’ll try out the new backyard for part of the activity. The display and library enhancements may not be completely finished, but we hope to have enough that people can see where we are going. Of course, we’ll have a cookie jar for donations and membership forms for those interested.

“You’re also going to have some unique speakers come in and talk about regional history. Could you give us a brief preview of what is in store?”

We have typically had a couple of summer programs in the evening at the Mountain Grove Memorial Church. These have been interesting and educational, but haven’t reached too much beyond the older generation of citizens. This year Lucy White, FHHL’s Program Director wanted to have at least one additional program and to try to extend the reach to a wider range of the community as well as to younger people, and I think has succeeded.

Lucy has arranged two traditional evening programs:

Captain Paul Saenger, Captain of the Carillon cruise boat running out of Whitehall will share stories and pictures of the history of this most interesting region. Many people may know, Wood Creek provided part of the water connection between the Hudson and Lake Champlain. Early trails followed the creek, followed by the canal, which was subsequently widened and deepened to what you see today. Railroads also followed the route due to the easy grade. As a result, Whitehall was for many years a very important terminal for commerce. This interesting talk will take place, July 19th at 7 pm, in MGM church.

Marian Knight and Ginny Lyons will present a program exploring the history of the Knight family, longtime residents in Huletts. They will share family photos, stories, and memories. This will take place, August 21st at 7 pm, MGM church.

Sylvia Lawler is also putting together a night of Celtic Music that includes “Road to Galway”, a Celtic band that sounds fun (Google them and look at the U-Tube piece). In addition Huletts’ own Elizabeth Straton, Betsy to many of us, will sing. I’ve had a couple of her CD’s for several years and enjoy them a great deal. The Celtic Night will be at the Casino on July 25th from 7 to 11 pm (and a bit longer if the band keeps playing). This will be a good opportunity to visit the Casino. It you want to come early for dinner, it would be a good idea to make reservations with Leann at the Casino a few days ahead so that she can have enough help and food to serve those who come. Tickets are on sale at the Casino and the Marina, as well as from Sylvia at 518-756-2631, $10. ($12 at the door) for adults, $5 for children 6 to 12, and children under 6 free.

Lucy, is also planning to have some sort of Children’s Program in August. We hope to have an area in the “Gallery” arranged for children’s books and activities. Lucinda (Heidsiek) Bhavasar and Pam (Judge) Wilson are putting this together. Contact them if you want to help.

“All of those things are very exciting, how can our readers get in touch with you and support FHHL?”

We are hoping to increase our current 66 paid member families (last year’s total) to at least half of the 300 families listed in the Huletts Directory. We used mailing lists this year for the Newsletter in hopes of reaching a wider audience, and hope that anyone on the FHHL list we managed to leave off will forgive us. We hope this web presence will help as well. Membership forms will be available at the Gallery, or just give your coordinates, including E-mail to a member, along with your dues, and we’ll sign you up. Finally, if you rent, be sure to let your renter’s know that these programs are available to them.

“I know what you’re doing would not be possible without the generous arrangement the fire department made with FHHL, to lease you the building. Could you tell our readers how this came about and who we should thank in the fire department for making this happen?”

Certainly FHHL is grateful to the HLVFD for leasing us the building, but it is hopefully a win-win situation for HLVFC, FHHL, and the community. We had a debate over the past couple of years inside FHHL as to whether we could do this from a financial point of view, and particularly during a time of recession. However, the building was available now, and might not be in the future. We were concerned about the cost of major repairs, like, say the roof needed replacement. But, if you think about it, the fire company would have to turn to the same community that we will turn to when this become necessary. Just different people doing the begging.

We had sufficient money in the FHHL treasury to finance this with no external help or grants, although we do hope to use the fledgling Gallery as a tool to obtain such grants in the future, mainly then to improve, expand, and protect the collection.

“What do you plan for FHHL in the future.”

We laid out 5 objectives for this year. Do something with the old firehouse, arrange a third program, increase the content on our website, enhance our physical image collection, and try to get one grant. We are on track for this thanks.

For 2010, we have some basic ideas. So far, No. 1 is to expand our physical collection. No. 2 is to increase community participation, not just with membership, but also with volunteer help on projects, as hosts for the gallery and library so we can extend the hours. We will round out a list of 5 or so by the August 22 (note this date might change) FHHL Annual Meeting, which will be at 9 am at the Gallery.

“What can the community do to help?”

We would like to see greater involvement in what we are doing, as well as increasing the paid membership to provide the increased funding we will need to do this right. Not just Huletts, but all of Dresden residents. “Support, Join, Participate” sort of sums up what we hope our community will do.

“Jim, it’s been a pleasure chatting with you and learning about FHHL. Thank you for all you’re doing and keep up the great work.”