Along the Adirondack Trail

455 Pages·2004·19.76 MB·English

by  Williams-Along

State Route 30A-30 was not always the Adirondack Trail. In its formative years,
it was called the Sacandaga Trail. It was, at one time, Route 54. It did not go
north to Malone; it went west at Speculator and ended in Utica. On the old
touring maps, today’s Route 30A from Fonda through the cities of Johnstown
and Gloversville and on to Mayfield was Route 148. In the village of Mayfield,
its path intersected with Route 30 from Amsterdam. When it reached Northville,
it crossed the Northville Bridge over the Sacandaga River and passed through
the village. A section of Route 30 between Sacandaga Park and Northville was
Route 152 at that time. A 1932 map of the Adirondack Trail included several
different route numbers: 30 to Wells, 8 to Speculator, 10 to Indian Lake, 28 to
Blue Mountain Lake, 28N to Long Lake (where it became 10 again), 365 to
Tupper Lake, and 10 to Paul Smiths and Malone. It is obvious that today’s Route
30 all the way through the mountains to Malone was made up of many sections
of roadway.
Along The Adirondack Trail
Donald R. Williams
Copyright © 2004 by Donald R. Williams
9781439615881

Published by Arcadia Publishing
Charleston, South Carolina
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2004107303

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The Adirondack Trail had a varied history. It was much like a puzzle; many
parts were constructed and put together to make the north–south route of today.
One of the first recorded indications of the Adirondack Trail appeared on a
1780 map as Canada Island, in the Sacandaga River near Hope, a Native
American trail to Canada. In 1850, a plank road was built from Fonda to
Gloversville, and that road became a public highway in 1904. The road south
from Malone to Tupper Lake was surveyed in the 1850s, and one from Lake
Pleasant to Long Lake was authorized in 1855. The road from Northville to Lake
Pleasant was constructed in 1858, and the entire route from Fonda to
Speculator and west was designated Route 54, the Sacandaga Trail, in 1900.
Macadam was added to the road from Gloversville to Northville in 1908 and
added on to Wells in 1912. New sections, including Route 152 from Sacandaga
Park to Northville, were built when the Sacandaga Valley was flooded in 1930.
The new macadam road from Speculator to Indian Lake became a reality in
1955. The state legislature officially put all the routes together in 1962 and
created the Adirondack Trail.
Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
One - MOHAWK AND JOHNSTOWN
Two - MAYFIELD AND NORTHAMPTON
Three - BENSON AND HOPE
Four - WELLS AND LAKE PLEASANT
Five - INDIAN LAKE AND LONG LAKE
Six - TUPPER LAKE AND SANTA CLARA
Seven - BRIGHTON, DUANE, AND MALONE
Eight - ALONG THE TRAIL
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The collection of photographs and stories herein is part of my 50-year
accumulation of Adirondackia. They add to that patchwork of Adirondack
history and lore found in my other two Images of America books, The
Adirondacks: 1830–1930 and The Adirondacks: 1931–1990. My quest to seek
out and record those many Adirondack stories is made possible only by those
who willingly share the past with me. Thank you to each and every one who
reads this and knows that your sharing brought this book to life.
—Donald R. Williams