Tag: Crowdsourcing
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Rosslyn Dock House & Crystal Spring Farm
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from friend and Essex neighbor, Todd Goff with a download link to that spectacular photograph above portraying an early 1900s panorama of the Essex waterfront. Actually, the image above has been shrunk down from a 9″ wide original and web optimized to accelerate load time (and…
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“In Old Champlain” by Mills Brothers
It’s time for another fun, local-ish song (or so I hope to discover) that just might celebrate the greatest of lakes, our one and only Lake Champlain. From the scarce little I’ve been able to learn about “In Old Champlain” (released in 1942 by Decca Records, performed by Mills Brothers, and music/lyrics by Cliff Friend and…
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George O. Webster’s “Essex-on-Champlain”
Back in 2013, I wrote a series of posts on Rev. George Orlia Webster for the Essex on Lake Champlain community blog. I had become interested in this former Essex resident, pastor of the Federated Church in Essex, and prolific composer of liturgical music because of his hymn, “Essex-on-Champlain.” Today I’ve collected (with the able assistance of Katie…
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Camp Cherokee for Boys in Willsboro, New York
Have you ever heard of Camp Cherokee for Boys in Willsboro? If so, I’d love to learn more. So far the details are pretty thin… As we roll into the final days of 2022, I’ve been attempting to streamline my end-of-year projects. And while the prospect of simply deleting lingering items on the perennial punch list…
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Autumn Landscape Poetry
TGIF… time to put another log on the fire, pour yourself something refreshing, and unwind for a moment together. Busy-ness and a continuous cascade of commitments can gradually hypnotize us during the weekly hurly-burly, so let’s take a few minutes to exhale and redirect our attention at this dramatic time of year. Transformation all around…
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Stone Splash Blocks
As always besotted by artifacts (especially those directly related to Rosslyn) and irresistibly drawn to crowdsourcing as a way to answer questions that my own research leaves wanting, today’s post represents an exciting moment celebrating the convergence of the two. On June 28, 2013 I published “Stone Gutters?” showcasing a pair of mysterious artifacts unearthed while rehabilitating Rosslyn’s carriage barn.…
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Preservation by Neglect
I’ve flitted around the topic of preservation by neglect on this blog for too long. I suppose that I’ve felt less comfortable putting my thoughts into writing than gabbing with friends similarly drawn to old buildings and artifacts. There’s a question of humility toward a topic better left to more scholarly authorities on historic preservation.…
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Camp-of-the-Pines
I turn afield this afternoon to share with you a growing collection of vintage postcards and miscellaneous artifacts featuring Camp-of-the-Pines in Willsboro, New York. To be 100% transparent from the outset, my aspiration is twofold: I want to solicit community knowledge about this [apparently] no longer extant Lake Champlain neighbor. I want to showcase our remarkably…
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Preservation by Neglect: Icehouse On Ice
Icehouse on ice. Yes, this tidy clutch of words and ideas appeals immensely to my poetic perspective on living, but there’s more to it than that. Like so many of the posts I’m revisiting lately, the earliest iteration of this originally somewhat melancholic reflection is nearly a decade old. Like many blog drafts it became an…
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Beekeeper Rendezvous 1924
Almost 100 years ago Rosslyn (a.k.a. Hyde Gate Farm) hosted a beekeeper rendezvous. Or, to be more precise Professor Wilson, from Cornell’s Dept. of Agriculture, and Mr. Rae, New York State’s “chief inspector” (of apiaries?), hosted a gathering of beekeepers at Rosslyn. Now & Then Although any Rosslyn artifact piques my interest, this news clip…
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Essex Day
We returned home from a heat-indexed 102° Essex Day for a languid lunch — quiche and garden-to-table Caprese salad (with aromatic purple basil) followed by watermelon — under the shady American Linden. A subtle breeze freshened just enough to wick the perspiration from our necks, and for a moment, it was perfection. Sated. Shaded. Contemplating…
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Blood’s Bay in Essex, NY
In my ongoing quest to gather and showcase vintage artifacts from our fair hamlet, I often come across images and other items that stump me. The vintage stereoview in this post is one such example. We’ve shared it on the Essex on Lake Champlain community blog in the hopes of crowd-sleuthing the whereabouts. Our understanding…