Newcomb Historical Museum

09/09/2025

08/27/2025

A Picture of Bygone History
Recently, NHM received a wonderful gift from Bonnie Sanderson to be used in our efforts to raise money for the museum. She gave us ten note cards and two ready-to-frame prints of the iconic Santanoni barn, which was destroyed by fire in 2004. Bonnie created this image by taking a photograph and then creating a painting from it, transforming it into a piece of artwork.
These items will be on sale at the Seeley Exhibit Hall starting August 27th until sold out.
Note card with blank inside for leaving your message & envelope - $3.00 ea.
Prints - $15.00 ea.

08/27/2025

We are grateful to have this special camp chair. Visit us to see which Newcomb guide it belonged to!!

05/21/2025

Come join the Newcomb Historical Museum at the Seeley Exhibit Hall, across from Overlook Park, starting at 10 A.M. Saturday May 24th for a book signing of “Million Dollar Wound” by John Hall, former Tahawus/Newcomb resident.
Million Dollar Wound is a raw, captivating memoir that spans more than seven decades of a life lived at full throttle from post-war Utah to the jungles of Vietnam, from corporate boardrooms in Manhattan to soul-searching family reunions in the digital age. Johnny Hall lays bare the emotional complexities of identity, adoption, trauma, and belonging in a story as American as it is universal.
Told in two powerful parts, this memoir begins with Johnny’s vivid coming-of-age adventures, wartime heroics, and entrepreneurial endeavors. But the second half unearths something deeper a DNA test that rewrites everything. As Johnny pieces together his hidden biological past, he finds not only his birth parents but also a sprawling family he never knew existed. What unfolds is a profound reflection on nature vs. nurture, resilience, and the human desire to be known.
At once deeply personal and widely relatable, Million Dollar Wound is for anyone who’s ever searched for meaning, fought their inner demons, or hoped to find their place in the world. An unforgettable journey of scars, survival, and self-discovery.

04/29/2025

Please come visit our exhibit Monday - Saturday, 10 to 5.

04/23/2025

04/16/2025

The Newcomb Historical Museum has an interesting artifact to share. As a result of research we have conducted and the help received from summer visitors, we believe this is a very old plug bayonet. The use of plug bayonets began in Europe in the early 17th century. The term “bayonet” comes from a long knife or dagger called a “bayonette” that was made in the town of Bayonne in southwestern France. The bayonet may have been invented as early as 1570 in either France or Germany.
Plug bayonets were made to be inserted into the barrel of a musket after soldiers ran out of ammunition, making the musket a far more effective weapon than clubbing enemies with the musket stock. Some plug bayonets are very intricate and carefully crafted; others are more rugged and hand-hewn, like the one we have.
We thank Garth Fisher, a visitor from Long Lake, who took these great pictures. If you have any more information or ideas about this weapon, please let us know.

03/27/2025

ALICE PADEN GREEN (1940 – 2024) by Patricia Sullivan

Alice Paden moved to the Adirondacks from South Carolina in 1948. Her father was unemployed, and the family had been existing in dire poverty while attempting to survive the prejudice of the Jim Crow south. Moving to Witherbee/Mineville provided her father, William Paden, Sr., employment mining iron for the Republic Steel Corporation.
The family was one of only two Black families living in the Elizabeth St. community. Mineville was predominantly Catholic, so the two families started the Lakeview Baptist Church which mirrored the Southern churches they left behind. The church became the center of their religious and social activities. By the 1950s, following the end of WW II, many Black veterans moved their families north seeking employment. Men worked in the mines and the women were responsible for raising children and keeping the home. Mining was a dangerous profession and there were many accidents. Her father was involved in a serious accident when a coal car rolled over his legs. He partially recovered but was never able return to his old job and instead, was forced to work at a much lower wage.
Once again the Padens began to live in extreme poverty, existing on the generosity of family and friends. Alice wanted to help earn money, so she sought employment at a local hotel. She was hired, but when she was shown her living accommodation she refused. White employees were housed in the hotel; Blacks, and others of questionable lineage, were to stay in the barn --- with hundreds of bats. She understood for the first time the racism and prejudice that existed in her beloved Adirondacks.
She particularly struggled against the idea that somehow the color of her skin meant that she was not as intelligent as her white neighbors. Alice proved this to be untrue. She went on to earn two master’s degrees, a teaching certificate, and a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice. She also authored and co-authored several books, one of them a memoir of her life: Outsider – Stories of Growing Up Black in the Adirondacks.
Her personal life also changed at this time. First, she married, then divorced a man named Green, retaining his name for herself. In 1973, she met and married Charles Touhey, a white businessman from Albany. They were married for 52 years.
Alice believed in Civil rights and equal treatment for all people. She was especially concerned about rights for prisoners and those living in poverty. In 1985, she founded the Center for Law and Justice in Albany and was arrested for disorderly conduct when she was denied access to prisons and debated the fairness of the justice system. She studied the demographics of the prison system and found that although many of them were predominantly Black and Latinos, the prisons themselves were usually located in white, rural communities. She felt that this adversely affected how non-local people would view the Adirondacks and that they would see it as a hostile, closed environment.
Alice strove to encourage diversity and creativity in the Adirondacks, so she started the Paden Institute for Writers of Color. This provided a haven for writers to practice their craft and encouraged them to become immersed in the beauty of the mountains.
Alice was an unconventional advocate for the Adirondacks and despite all her heartfelt causes, she never forgot where she grew up and where she called home. Alice passed away on August 20, 2024 in Albany.
Resources:
Albany Times Union. “Alice Green.” Obituary. August 23, 2024.
Ancestry.com.
Caudell, Robin. “Essex Author Speaks about Racism, DEI One Year after Her Memoir’s Release.” Albany Times Union. June 10, 2024.
Green, Alice Paden. “My Adirondack Life.” Adirondack Life, August 2020.
Green, Alice Paden. Outsider: Stories of Growing Up Black in the Adirondacks. Albany: KJ Press, 2023.
Grondahl, Paul. “Remembering Civil Right Champion Alice Green.” Albany Times Union, August 28, 2024.
Lynn, Peggy and Sandra Weber. Breaking Trail – Remarkable Women of the Adirondacks. Fleischmanns, NY: Purple Mountain Press, 2004.

03/20/2025

ORRA A. PHELPS, M.D. by Patricia Sullivan
(1895-1986)
If you are a 46er, hiker, lover of nature or a wilderness preservationist, you are probably already familiar with the contributions made by Orra Phelps in her lifetime. She was an author, mountaineer, and scientist at a time when women had to fight against prejudice to follow their professional aspirations in non-traditional roles.
Orra was born in Storrs, Connecticut. Her parents, Charles Sheperd Phelps and Orra A. Parker, were both well-educated and interested in Science and Agriculture. Orra’s love of nature, botany, and biology naturally developed from a childhood spent identifying plants and walking in the woods around their home in Wilton, New York. In 1918, she graduated from Mt. Holyoke College, with a degree in Zoology and Geology. Orra then taught science at New Hampshire College and in the summer worked as a camp counselor on Silver Bay in Lake George.
Meanwhile, her two brothers had climbed Mt. Marcy, and she became intrigued by the idea of doing it herself. In 1924, she made her ascent of Mt. Marcy accompanied by her mother, brother, and friend. They carried bedrolls slung across their shoulders and fished for their dinner. Orra loved the experience, hiking, and camping whenever she had free time. During the 1920s, she attended medical school at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Financial constraints slowed her academic progress, but in 1927 she graduated with a degree in medicine. Her first employment as a physician was for the school district around Fort Plain and Utica.
During the 1930s, Orra struggled but managed to pay back all her student loans. She developed an interest in teaching others about the wilderness and was active with Girl Scouts and other youth groups. In 1934, she published the first trail guide to the High Peaks based on her knowledge of the areas and climbing experiences.
World War II began in 1941, and in 1944 Orra joined the Navy as a Doctor. Once the war ended, she returned to New York and started working for the Veteran’s Administration in Albany, but her spare time was spent in the mountains. In 1947 she became one of the few people to have climbed all 46 Adirondack peaks. She retired from the Veteran’s Administration in 1962 but started a new career as the first Ranger and Naturalist for the Adirondack Club. During her tenure she started a museum, wrote informational pamphlets, gave guided hikes, and generally shared her love of the park and the wilderness with the public. Orra retired in 1972 but continued hiking into her eighties.
Eventually she began to have medical difficulties which necessitated that she move to a nursing home. In 1986, she passed away at the age of 90, just days short of 91. She was the third born of seven children, but she lived the longest of them all. An historical plaque honoring her many accomplishments as physician, as well as “Botanist, ADK 46er, Author, Naturalist and Teacher” was dedicated to her memory by then Governor George Pataki. In 1996 a plot of eighteen acres in Wilton was donated by her niece, Mary Arakelian, for the Orra Phelps Preserve.

Resources Consulted

“Dr. Orra Almira Phelps (1885-1986).” Find a Grave Memorial.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/88192300.
Fold3 by Ancestry.com. “Index Record for Orra Phelps (1895) from the U.S. Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010.” Updated October 17, 2013.
––– “Muster Roll of Officers and Enlisted Men of the U.S. Marine
Corps: Separation Company from Henderson Hall, Arlington,
Virginia.” July 1st to July 31, 1946. [Note: Four women from the
“U.S. Naval Reserve” were also listed at the bottom of this
page; one was Lieutenant Commander Orra A. Phelps.]
Gooley, Lawrence P.– “Orra Phelps: With Us on Every Trail.” Adirondack Explorer. September 26, 2018.
Lynn, Peggy and Sandra Weber. Breaking Trail: Remarkable Women
of the Adirondacks. Fleischmanns, New York: Purple Mountain
Press, 2004.
“Orra Phelps Nature Preserve.” n.d. Accessed March 13, 2025. https://saratogaplan.org/explore.
Post, Paul. The Saratogian. “Museum pays tribute to Orra Phelps.” August 25, 2006.
The Post Star. 1986. “Orra Phelps.” Obituary. August 27,1986, p.18.

Orra Phelps on Owlhead by Kathrine Flickinger

03/12/2025

EMMA CAMP MEAD by Patricia Sullivan

Around 1882, Elijah and Elizabeth Camp built a hunting lodge on the shore of Little Moose Lake. Elijah was a member of the Abenaki tribe and Elizabeth was an Oneida from the Cattaraugus reservation in southwestern New York. He worked as a guide for sportsmen and his wife and daughter, Emma, helped with the cooking and cleaning. The camp appealed to many affluent gentlemen who enjoyed hunting and fishing. One visitor was Gabriel Mead, the eldest son of a wealthy Westchester Co. family. Gabriel was taken with Emma’s beauty and intelligence and the two eventually became engaged and married even though Emma was not yet 17.
When Gabriel notified his family of his marriage to an Indian girl, his parents decided that he must be crazy and formed a plan to “save” him. They had a family friend bring Gabriel to his home where the Meads were waiting. Gabriel was drugged, kidnapped and thrown into an insane asylum. Meanwhile, Emma had no idea where her husband had gone until she was served with annulment papers. She asked to see her husband, but the family refused. Having no money to hire a lawyer, Emma accepted the $10,000 offered by his family to break all ties with their son.
Using the money in a practical way, Emma purchased a small store in Indian Lake and started her own business which proved to be a lucrative enterprise. Just as she was settling into her new life, Gabriel returned and told her he had never wanted to leave her and that his family was entirely to blame. They remarried and Gabriel’s family cut off all money to the couple. Depending solely on the income from the store was a tremendous hardship for the couple so Gabriel decided to go back to Westchester Co. to speak to his father about their finances. Emma never saw him again and their daughter, who was born during Gabriel’s absence, never knew her father. Later, Emma would find out that he had divorced her, remarried and had several children. Emma was heartbroken, but having her daughter, Bessie, gave her an incentive to keep going. Unfortunately, her happiness was short lived when her daughter fell from a second story roof and died. She was only three. Emma no longer had a husband or child, but she did not give in to her sadness. She built a house on Christian Hill where she invited her parents and brother to join her. She eventually added additional rooms, and the establishment became known as The Adirondack House. Emma carried on the family business by offering food, lodging, hunting,
Emma continued to expand her business ventures by renting guest houses, loaning money and developing a horse remedy for “heaves.” She also volunteered at several churches and the local school. Emma was active in the Indian Rights Movement, particularly the Six Nations land dispute. She wrote an eloquent letter to President Roosevelt expressing her concerns over the dispute and the President wrote her a reply.
Emma died in 1934 at the age of 65. She left a detailed will, designating money and possessions to family, friends and two churches – the Baptist church and the Episcopal/Methodist church. In a later codicil to her will, she deleted a bequest to one of the churches because she felt their preaching and activities were not in keeping with the true teachings of the Bible.
Throughout her life, Emma Mead persevered through personal tragedies and various struggles. She always took care of her family and the community in which she lived. Her story is one of resilience and strength and we honor her today as a true Adirondack woman during Women’s History Month.

Resources:
Ancestry.com
Breaking Trail – Remarkable Women of the Adirondacks by Peggy Lynn and Sandra Weber, (88-92.)

03/05/2025

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we will be honoring several women who have left legacies and made unique contributions to the history and preservation of the Adirondacks.
Many women in the Adirondacks were known for their hospitality towards travelers, and the wonderful food they provided. This month we are honoring Lucy Kimball, more commonly known as Mother Johnson.
Lucy perfected her cooking in the logging camps surrounding Newcomb. When the camps closed, Lucy and her husband, Philander Johnson, moved to a spot below Raquette Falls and north of Long Lake. They opened an inn, where they provided food ($.50), accommodations and portage services for $1.50 a load. In 1869, their establishment was written about and recommended by William H.H. Murray, author of the guidebook, Adventures in the Wilderness. Rev. Murray was especially fond of her cooking and in particular, her pancakes. Another frequent visitor was Glens Falls photographer and artist, Seneca Ray Stoddard. On one occasion, he asked Mother Johnson what type of fish he was eating, and she replied,” Well after September 15, they don’t have no name. They are a good deal like trout, but it’s against the law to catch trout after the 15th, you know,” (Lynn & Weber, 38).
Unfortunately, Mother Johnson passed away in March 1875. She had always expressed an interest in being buried in Long Lake ,however, the river was frozen making it impossible to transport her there. Philander decided to bury her on the knoll behind the inn and in the Spring, move her to Long Lake. Contrary to her wishes, her body was never moved from that spot, although there is a headstone in the Long Lake cemetery with “Mother Johnson” on the top and “Old Mrs. Johnson” upside down across the bottom.

For a special treat, we are including her famous pancake recipe and would love to hear your feedback.
Ingredients:
Flour
1 qt buttermilk
2 well-beaten eggs
Salt
½ tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp warm water
Preparation:
1. Start by adding enough flour to a quart of buttermilk to create a thick batter.
2. Allow the batter to stand overnight or up to 24 hours instead of finishing it immediately.
3. The next morning, add the eggs and salt to the batter.
4. Dissolve the baking soda in a tbsp of warm water and add to batter.
5. Mix everything together thoroughly.
6. Cook the batter immediately to make the pancakes.

According to Brenda Gantt, “Mother Johnson’s pancakes are a testament to the beauty of tradition and the power of patience. Savor the aroma and enjoy the experience of creating and relishing a batch of pancakes that hold the heartwarming charm of Adirondack culinary heritage.”
Recipe courtesy of Brenda Gantt
https://CookingwithBrendaGantt.Net)

Resources used for the article:
Ancestry.com
Breaking Trail by Peggy Lynn and Sandra Weber
Adventures in the Wilderness by William H.H. Murray
Adirondack Stories (Historical Sketches) by Marty Podskoch and Stan Glanzman