Sherwood Inn Landing on Lake Champlain

This morning I share with you a seasonally in-sync Rosslyn artifact that I acquired last week on eBay. This vintage postcard postmarked July 24, 1959 depicts the Rosslyn and Sunnyside waterfronts. The caption reads: Sherwood Inn, Landing, on Lake Champlain.

Although I remain somewhat conflicted whether or not it’s appropriate to share the messages from vintage and antique postcards, I tend toward a quasi-archeological justification (unless the content is obviously sensitive or inappropriate). And I am always happy to remove anything if requested (by originator, recipient, family member, etc.)

In the case of this postcard addressed to Mrs. Ethel Alvey on Muncie, Indiana from Edith, I consider the message quirky and innocuous enough to share, though it hasn’t anything at all to do with Rosslyn!

We drove to Keene, N.Y. yesterday after making a phone call. We are paid guests of Mrs. Walter Beesmeyer at Mt. House. She, her husband (now deceased) & small son came to U.S. 20 years ago from Germany. We are on top of Mt. surrounded by Mts. I wish you & Herman had a million $ so you could fly here and enjoy N.Y. State. I’m writing on a ferry crossing Lake Champlain going to a museum in Vermont.

[pullquote]I’m fascinated with how a simple artifact can offer a bridge across time.[/pullquote]I suspect that Edith was referring to Marion Biesemeyer who passed away three years ago.

Marion Hempel Biesemeyer, 101, of Keene, was born in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 22, 1911. She died peacefully at the Meadowbrook Healthcare facility on Thursday, May 31, 2012 (Source: Lake Placid News)

As World War II engulfed their country and continent, Marion and her husband Walter emigrated to the United States. They worked as caretakers for Putnam Camp and then moved to Keene where they established Mountain House.

Originally built in 1890, the Mountain House is located on top of East Hill with spectacular views of the Adirondack’s highest peaks. The Biesemeyer Family has offered guests food and lodging since 1945. (Source: Welcome to The Mountain House)

I’m fascinated with how a simple artifact can offer a bridge across time. When Edith penned her postcard to Ethel, Walter had been dead for about six years and Marion was operating Mountain House on her own. She continued to receive guests as sole proprietor until 2000. And today Mountain House is owned and operated by Bob Biesemeyer, a curious tidbit that filtered across my radar recently when my bride and I learned about Hamilton College’s soon-to-launch Academic Program in the Adirondack Program.

Nestled in the heart of the Adirondacks, the beautiful, historic Mountain House in Keene, NY is the site of our program. The Main House, and the adjacent Gulf Brook Lodge and Alpine Lodge house students, professors in residence, and serve as the academic home base for a semester of hands-on, experiential study. It was the family home of owner Bob Biesemeyer, who also owns and operates the contracting company of Biesmeyer’s Adirondack Building, Inc. (Source: Hamilton College)

Uncanny, right? And if you’ve read this far, and you’re still not totally flummoxed, then you just might want to learn about Hamilton’s Academic Program in the Adirondack Program.

The Academic Program in the Adirondacks at Hamilton College is a place-based, semester long learning experience that combines rigorous academic study with the skills and understanding gained through field experience in the Adirondack Park with local organizations and in wilderness contexts. The focus is on local, interdisciplinary environmental issues with global implications. (Source: Hamilton College)

As a Hamilton alumna and evangelist, my bride is thrilled that her alma mater is introducing a program in our neck of the woods. She visited the Biesemeyer’s Mountain House with the program’s founder and director, Professor Janelle A Schwartz. Glowing review!

Now for that museum in Vermont…