Reach for the Sky

     "I want to see towers" slurred the inebriate sitting next to me.

     While putting a little distance between the guy and myself, I thought: "Keep drinking buddy. Pretty soon you'll be flat on your back looking up. Then these bar stools will look like towers."

     But that didn't seem like charitable advice so instead I suggested he give himself time to sober up before heading southbound on the Thruway. Three or four hours later you'll be agog in towers, I told him. 

     Later I had my regrets. What if he took my advice? All the traffic, all the muggings he'd have to endure just to see concrete, glass and steel scratching the sky. Maybe he could have gotten his tower fix right here in the North Country. They wouldn't have the name TRUMP plastered on them but that's a good thing, right? So I put together this guide to local towers. Just to be helpful. Next time, next bar, next drunk, I'll be ready.

 

     Granville's Tower of the Golden Dome represents something of a homecoming for me. Many years ago I made this an annual pilgrimage. I would first stop and chat with the farmers who owned it, then walk up thru their pasture to the top of the hill crowned by the oddity. The spot had a mystical feel conducive to quiet contemplation. Then life got busy, decades went by and the tower became just a distant memory. Until several years ago when nostalgia drew me back. But things had changed. New roads, new houses, no farm. It was disorienting and I left in despair, wondering if my old haunt even existed anymore.

     Eventually some detective work and a gracious landowner combined to bring about a reunion. Earlier this winter, with permission and good directions, Gwenne, Zia and I trudged up the final slope to once again stand in awe of this strange and sublime monument. The inscription carved into the marble lintel reads something to the effect: "That thou mayest watch here to our return". A suitably mysterious message for a structure that looks almost medieval. You can, of course, find out more about the towers history (hint: James Waldron Gillespie). Or you can just delight in the fact that such wondrous places are out there "watching for our return".

Gwenne and Zia at the Pinnacle

     You'd think something like the Tower of the Golden Dome would be a unique, one-of-a-kind type of thing. But you'd be wrong. On the same afternoon we were in Granville we drove the relatively short distance to Dorset, Vermont for a 'two-tower' day. The Pinnacle is the name of both a hill and a tower on the hill's summit. In Dorset turn off Rt. 30 onto Pinnacle Lane to find the trailhead. There are a number of short easy trails that wind around the hill. You could spend a couple of hours here hiking, reading the informative signs and enjoying the tower. If it wasn't for Gwenne and Zia I'd still be there examining the amazing diversity of rocks it's built from. Thank God for rich eccentrics and the 'follies' they've bequeathed us.

     Sticking with the genre of stone towers let's look at a few that fall more in the industrial/utilitarian realm.

Then...

...and now

      

          From quarry to kiln to canal was the program at Bald Mountain, Town of Greenwich in the mid-1800's when a thriving lime industry was going strong. A couple of the hulking kilns still hide in the woods, reminders of an industrial past.

     Further north in the Town of Fort Ann this behemoth stands sentinel in deep forest. It's the Mt. Hope Blast Furnace, once used for smelting iron ore. I've hiked in many times in the past but now a group called Friends of Camp Little Notch blocks access. It's sad when an area's historical legacy is taken away from long time residents by outsiders.

          Maybe this is stretching the definition of tower a wee bit but there are a number of old bridge abutments that 'tower' above you when in a canoe and they can be quite impressive. I know of ones in the Hudson, Battenkill and Moses Kill and there may be others.

     The undisputed champions of area towers are the Schuylerville Monument (154') and the Bennington Monument (306'). Both commemorate Revolutionary War battles.

     Sticking with the genera of soaring stone for a moment, here are a few more I've come across:

The impressive entrance to Whitehall's Skene Manor

 

Perfect symmetry invites you into the

Mountain Grove Memorial Chapel, Huletts 

Back in Whitehall is this mini-castle with its

corner towers

Just up the street the facade of Our Lady of Hope

lifts our gaze heavenward

It's capped by a shining copper roof (not visible in my photo)

that's a Whitehall landmark

Up in Putnam cliff, chimney, portico, steeple and monuments all

strive for the sky at the United Presbyterian Church.

     And a couple more church steeples in...

Greenwich

Cambridge

      How about the exquisite New Skete Bell Tower?

     Some cemetery monuments tower impressively.

Philip Embury's grave

Woodlawn Cemetery

Cambridge

This cross sits on a hill near the entrance 

to Evergreen Cemetery in Salem

The Col. Williams obelisk perched on its large boulder

Lake George

At Juckett Park in Hudson Falls

     In farm country silos to store feed are ubiquitous and often the highest structures around. They can also store other materials as well. I may do a whole post on various types so be forewarned. Here's a small sample of these useful towers:

A big blue Harvestore dwarfs an old cement stave silo

In Ashgrove beside White Creek

Cement silos at the soon to be closed cement plant

From the Feeder Canal Trail, Glens Falls

From the bottom looking up

Another view of the cement silos from the web

The recently restored coal silos in Hudson Falls

also along the Feeder Canal Trail

     Cell towers are, of course, and unfortunately, common on the landscape but only Pilot Knob has a Frankenpine!

Building the Pilot Knob 'Frankenpine' cell tower

web image

Is it a cell tower disguised as a water tower or vice versa?

It's in Cambridge and there's an open ladder going up the right leg.

I used to like to rock climb but that is way too scary for me.

     Then there are the forbidding guard towers at the prison in Comstock. When I drove by there recently I didn't even want to stop long enough to snap a photo, so I let Google do it. 

Screen shot from Google Street View

     On a clear day you used to be able to see forever. Washington County has a couple of fire towers and I've climbed both of them in the past. Now they are closed. But it's no big deal, all you are missing is gorgeous views.

Wind turbine, solar panels, tower - Black Mountain

As high as you can get (legally) in Washington County

The tower on top of Black Mountain

Two photos of the Colfax firetower in the Town of Jackson

Formerly a nice destination with great views from the top

Now closed and apparently used as a cell tower. Gab on...

     There used to be a lot of tall smokestacks when Washington County was more industrial. A few still stand but many have come crashing down as they deteriorated and became liabilities.

Then and...

Now

     The two images above are of the Champlain Silk Mill stack in Whitehall. It still stands and you can see it as you cross over the canal on Rt. 4 heading east. I was there just the other day but without a telephoto lens it's hard to get a good shot so I used these pictures from the web. All the buildings in the old post-card are gone with the chimney alone sticking up like a (very big) sore thumb. 

     Speaking of sore, the trash plant in Hudson Falls is definitely a sore spot for many in the local area. It has to be the tallest stack in Washington County.

Web image

Another phallic symbol at the H&V plant in Clarks Mills

An old photo showing the fate of many obsolete stacks

This one was at the cement plant

     I actually have more photos but it's past my bedtime so let's wrap this up. Obviously, I won't be going to New York City to see towers anytime soon, not when we have a virtual forest of them up here on our end of the Hudson.