Riding the Rails

     A few hours and a few dollars will get you there and back. 'There' in this case is Westport, N.Y. reached in a couple of hours for about $25 from the Saratoga Springs station aboard Amtrak's Adirondack train.  What's special about this trip is that you get to see an interesting swath of Washington County in a relaxed, between lunch and dinner, excursion. That's what Gwenne and I did earlier this summer and here I'll give you an overview of an experience I think you'd enjoy.

     The Adirondack route goes from New York City to Montreal and back. Northbound it is scheduled to arrive in Saratoga at 12:35pm and at the Westport station at 2:36pm.  The southbound train pulls into Westport at 3:46pm and Saratoga at 6:00pm. If you are willing to hang out in Westport for an hour or so you can make the scenic trip up and back in less than six hours.

     The journey begins with a drive to the end of Station Lane off West Avenue in Saratoga. There is plenty of parking and the station has rest rooms as well as indoor and outdoor seating. I believe you can buy tickets there but it might be a good idea to get them online ahead of time. Be ready to board when the train pulls in from the south. Initially we sat in seats with our backs to the direction of travel. Ugh! I felt disoriented as soon as we began moving. Best bet is the dining car where you can face the way the train is going and easily chat with other folks.

     The first part of the route is thru the Saratoga County sand plains on up to the hamlet of Gansevoort. We swooped by the Stewarts Shop where I've been known to sit with an ice cream cone watching trains go by! Gansevoort is the site of many of my boyhood misadventures so there was sweet nostalgia as we rolled past places where I swam, biked, played ball and hung out with my buds. After a short stretch of farm fields you'll notice the train beginning to slow. Be ready for the Hudson River/Rogers Island crossing and a quick stop at the classic Fort Edward station. The station is unmanned but beautiful inside and out. A number of businesses have come and gone here down thru the years but it currently sits empty. 

A southbound train at the Fort Edward station

     Just beyond Fort Edward is an industrial area and the large complex where PCB dredgings from the Hudson River were processed and loaded on freight cars to go God knows where. Beyond that the tracks parallel the Champlain Canal and go thru swampy areas that mark the divide between the Hudson and the St. Lawrence watersheds. This is probably the highest point on the trip but you would never guess it. The Empire State Trail parallels the tracks to the left. The train continues north past Smiths Basin which used to have a cute station of its own (long since torn down) and on up to Fort Ann, once a bustling stop but now just a blur as you speed by. The tracks cross Halfway Brook where it joins Wood Creek/Champlain Canal and squeeze into a narrow gap of Adirondack rock with Battle Hill off to the left and the canal on the right. Here you are traveling thru the scene of a fierce skirmish between the British and American forces in the Revolution. Going farther back in time (way farther) this was where glacial meltwaters (and later seawater) were backed up into the Champlain lowlands as the ice receded. At times all the drainage from the Great Lakes roared thru this narrow gap!

      A long straight run down the Wood Creek valley brings you to Whitehall. The Adirondacks rise to the left and the Taconic hills are on the right. In Whitehall tracks branch off towards Vermont and a scenic gap in the high Taconics before terminating in Burlington. This line is called the Ethan Allen and would be a fun alternative but the schedule requires an overnight stay with a return the following day.

(web image)

     After a brief stop in Whitehall the Adirondack continues north past Putts Rock and East Bay, soon crossing the inlet to South Bay. From here the tracks lie close to the marshy margins of the Lake Champlain Narrows with the rugged cliffs of Bald Mountain to the right. They are in Vermont but geologically part of the Adirondacks. Names like Dresden Station and Putnam Station speak of a time when the train used to stop but now it's on to Ticonderoga where there's a small trackside shelter that seems to be in the middle of nowhere although the Fort and a ferry to Vermont are nearby. Just before this stop the train hugs the steep slopes of Mt. Defiance and crosses the wetlands at the mouth of Ticonderoga Creek,  Lake George's outlet. Look for a view of Fort Ticonderoga across the water.

(web image)

     Continuing North the tracks cling so close to the lake shore that you can look down and see fish swimming. Rafts of various waterfowl also add interest. I remember a short stop in Port Henry and Lake Champlain becoming much broader with distant views of the Green Mountains across the water. There are rock cuts so tight you feel you could reach out and touch the walls and I even recall a short tunnel. Eventually the rails pull away from the lake and after stretch of hilly pasture and farm fields the iconic Westport depot comes into view. Time to say goodbye to the friends you've made on the trip up and await the southbound train and new friends.

A northbound train at the Westport station

(web image)

     The Westport Station is home to the appropriately named Depot Theatre which puts on several productions over the summer. With a little planning you could ride up, get something to eat, watch a show and spend the night in town before catching the next days train back. You might also check out The Mill, a recently renovated former grist mill that now houses an art gallery, music venue, bar and cafe. It would probably require an overnight stay.  Across the street is the Adirondack Food Hub, a convenient place for refreshments during the hour between trains for those doing a quick one day up and back.

The Westport station in evening

(web image)

     On our trip Gwenne opted for a brisk stroll downtown to a bookstore and a cup of coffee. I stretched my legs with a walk along the tracks (probably a no-no) and then hung out at the depot reading, talking to fellow travelers and taking in the view. It seemed like a mere blink before the southbound chugged to a stop and we hopped on.

     A few observations: I would advise sitting on the east side going up and the west side on the return for slightly different views.  Avoid the backward facing seats. There were plenty of open seats in the dining car on our jaunt and it's a socially fun place to be with people talking,  playing games and antsy kids having a good time. So much more relaxing than driving or flying. There is food and drink available but you might do better bringing your own. This time of year the end of the trip will be after dark but stick season does offer more open views. Probably the ideal time would be a warm day during fall foliage season but, like most things in life, 'just do it' makes the most sense. Also, you could just as easily start the trip in Fort Edward, shaving a few minutes and a few dollars. Whether in Fort Edward or Saratoga, you'll be ready for a bite to eat after your fun adventure with lots of local dining options. Beyond that, all I can say is "All aboard!"

      

Charming charcoal drawing of the Ford Edward station by Rod Bentley

Bentley is a Glens Falls artist who captures evocative images of local scenes

See more of his work at his Facebook site here

The Horror

     Another Halloween has come and gone. We've had our dose of 'fun horror' for the year. Axe wielding, blood dripping fiends greet us on porches while ghosts, ghouls and skeletons haunt many lawns. All good for a brief "Yikes!" and then a good laugh. Not to spoil the party but I've put together a brief chronology of real horror that has occurred in and around Washington County.  Read on, if you dare.

     Let's start with a little bloodbath from up around Ticonderoga, just to the north. While the native Algonquin and Iroquois peoples had been fighting each other for years, it wasn't until Samuel de Champlain's Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain, published in 1613, that we have a written record. In it he describes a July 1609 battle where, armed with an arquebus, he and his native allies routed an Iroquois war party. Champlain legendarily dropped several of the enemy with a single shot. 

                                                                     

     Shaken by this novel display of firepower, the Iroquois fled the conflict but not before several unfortunate warriors were captured. Champlain describes in detail the horrors inflicted upon one poor individual: "...they tore out his nails and applied fire to the ends of his fingers and to his membrum virile." They scalped him and dripped hot gum on his head before piercing his arms and pulling out his sinews. After he was dead they dismembered and disemboweled him, finally cutting out his heart and making his fellow captives eat it. I trust nothing like that occurred in your neighborhood this past Halloween.

     The next story isn't exactly a walk in the park even though it happened where Hudson Fall's lovely Juckett Park is today. In the time of the French and Indian Wars the trip from Fort Edward to William Henry at Lake George was a dangerous undertaking through dark pine woods. A young man named John Quackenboss had been recruited as a teamster to deliver a load of supplies to the northern outpost. Shortly after entering the dismal forest he and his guard of sixteen soldiers  were ambushed and taken prisoner by a large band of hostile Indians. They were tightly bound, seated on a log and one by one dispatched with a tomahawk to the head. Quackenboss, who happened to be the last in line, closed his eyes waiting for the fatal blow when a squaw ran forward to stop the slaughter and claim him as her personal slave. He was then marched to Canada and forced to run the gauntlet, once again barely escaping with his life. After three years of captivity he was purchased from the Indians, eventually returning to this area to marry and live out his life in Cambridge. I guess you'd call his a horror story with a happy ending (at least for him, if not the others).

Juckett Park

(web image)

       As late as 1780 the Town of Kingsbury was hardly a safe place. That is when 'Carlton's Raiders', a large force of British, Indians and Tories, came down from Canada burning and pillaging every patriot home and business. A local boy named Oliver Graham was shot and wounded with the notorious Tory, Gil Harris shouting "Yes! Damn 'em! Kill them all!" Fortunately, little Oliver was able to run into the underbrush and make a miraculous escape.

     Earlier, during the Colonial Wars, Schuylerville (then known as Saratoga) had seen its share of horrors. An historical marker just south of the village tells of several raids with grim outcomes. In November of 1745 the French commander Marin attacked the settlement burning the fort and all of the buildings while destroying cattle and provisions. Twelve villagers were killed and 109 taken prisoner. Among those killed was Philip Schuyler with reports that "barbarous savages...inhumanely rip(p)'d open his body and pul'd out his heart, and cut off his head." 

This sign is currently being refurbished

and is half painted making it hard to read

That is why I used this older web image

(web image)

     Fort Saratoga was the scene of even more suffering than the sign alludes to. An outbreak of smallpox had left it undermanned and on February 22, 1747 12 soldiers were ambushed by 30 Indians killing four, capturing four and wounding several more. A short time later the French and Indians killed 8 English and wounded several more with a musket volley. Then in late June the French officer Luc de La Corne lead an ambush that left 15 killed and 48 captured. This is apparently the same raid the sign refers to with some discrepancy in the facts between various sources.

     Israel Putnam is a name that appears often in tales of the French and English conflicts. He was a Ranger associated with Robert Rogers and often stationed at Fort Edward. In a 1758 battle with the French near Fort Ann Putnam was captured and tied to a tree while the fighting was going on all around him. Bullets tore into the tree and thru his clothing. An Indian threw a tomahawk at him and a Frenchman tried to shoot him point blank but his gun misfired. Eventually the French retreated with Putnam as prisoner. When they made camp near Crown Point the Indians tried to burn him alive but even that failed and he lived to fight another day. Talk about your horrible, no good days...

     For some sense of the times consider this story regarding Robert Rogers: after raiding a native village he grabbed an Indian baby by the feet and swung his head against a tree trunk. When his own soldiers reacted in horror to the action he said, "I'm killing a nit so it won't become a louse. If I let him live, he may grow up to kill me."

 

Robert Rogers statue

Rogers Island, Fort Edward

     Almost 20 years later, as Burgoyne's army advanced thru the the region during the Revolution, Fort Ann was once again the scene of bloodshed. On July 7, 1777 squatters living near present day South Bay Village rained bullets down upon the advancing British from the cliffs of Dog Heaven. As Red Coat reinforcements arrived on the Military Road most of the settlers were killed and their cabins burned.

The Diameter cliff where squatters ambushed British soldiers

at the Battle of Dog Heaven

     The next day the Americans and Burgoyne's troops engaged in a fierce battle just north of the present day Village of Fort Ann. There were many casualties on both sides. American Colonel Van Rensselaer was wounded early and lay behind a log as the fighting raged around him, exhorting his men "Don't mind me , charge the enemy. Charge, I say Charge!" A Major Beach was shot at by an Indian with the bullet taking off one of his fingers and killing a man beside him. Beach then shot the Indian dead. Several weeks later, as the British marched south past the scene of the battle, Lieutenant William Digby wrote in his journal, "We saw many of their dead unburied since the action of the 9th, which caused a violent stench. One of (our) officers was then unburied and, from the smell, we could only cover him with leaves."

Battle Hill plaque

Beside Rt. 4 north of Fort Ann Village

     As Burgoyne's army advanced south towards Fort Edward two horrific events were unfolding. Near South Argyle a band of Indians lead by the fierce Le Loup massacred nine members of the Allen family including women and children as they gathered for their midday meal. The bloody scene of scalped bodies and bullet riddled cabin terrorized all in the sparsely settled area and the subsequent murder of Jane McCrea in Fort Edward only heightened fears. The fact that even noncombatants were at risk ignited a hatred of the British and their Indian allies that would lead to their undoing a few months later in the battles at Saratoga.

Historical sign and burial site of Allen family in Argyle and 

Jane McCrea memorial in Fort Edward

     This grim litany of death and dismemberment could go on and on. I haven't even mentioned the many thousands who met violent ends at battles near Lake George, Ticonderoga, Hubbardton and Bennington. The suffering endured at these sites can become almost numbing when you consider that this was an era before anesthesia or antibiotics. Still, the personal Hell that some experienced in these places is what created the world we live in today. And we should never forget that there are fellow Americans enduring the horrors of war right now (while their Commander-in-Chief plays golf, builds ballrooms and naps).

     To wrap things up let me tell you about an event that may seem insignificant compared to some of the previous tales but was the apocalypse for its victims. The year was 1801 and the location was the Kingsbury Swamp. This was roughly where Rt. 196 goes today, just east of Hudson Falls. Before the canal was built and surrounding land drained it was a much larger wet wilderness. It was also the home of a den of wolves whose depredations were a problem for area farmers. Their solution was a circle hunt where all the men of the community arranged themselves in a giant ring around the swamp and, heavily armed, began walking towards its center making a raucous din to drive all the animals ahead of them. As the circle closed tighter and tighter the wildlife had no place to go, no place to hide. Soon every rifle was firing in a thunderous cacophony until there was nothing left standing. After it was over they counted eleven dead wolves as well as hundreds of other animals. There is no record of how many hunters the mayhem claimed...   

Wood Creek flows out of the Kingsbury Swamp

Scene of the circle wolf hunt 225 years ago

        After all of that I'm wishing everyone a peaceful, serene Thanksgiving. At least everyone who isn't a turkey.