Hello from Blue Mt. Lake: Season 2

Season 2 starts off with an interview from 1973 with our founder; Harold K. Hochschild.

Transcript

Hello from Blue Mt Lake: season two

Preview Segment 

Welcome to season two of ADKX-tra Credit podcast. I hope you have enjoyed the bite-size chunks of Adirondack history you’ve been served over the past year. 

This episode is going to explain a little more about how the Adirondack Experience came to exist.

TRANSITION - ADKX Podcast Intro - Ready to earn some extra credit? You are listening to ADKX-tra Credit, a podcast for students about the history of the Adirondack Mountains and the people that have lived, worked, and played here. The Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, is located in the heart of the Adirondack Park of New York State. 

CONTENT

Adirondack Experience opened in 1957 as the Adirondack Museum. We changed our name in 2017. We collect and preserve the historic heritage of the Adirondack region. The magazine the National Geographic Traveller once called us “the Smithsonian of the Adirondacks”.  And we are very proud to be compared to the Smithsonian National Museum. 

TRANSITION - sounds 

The ADKX (as we like to call this museum) is located in Blue Mountain Lake, New York. It's on the site of the Blue Mountain House. Which was a resort hotel from 1876 to 1950. Part of the Blue Mountain House is still on our site today. When you visit, look for the Log Hotel.

The museum has 22 indoor and outdoor exhibitions, plus offices, a library, education space, and storage facilities. Collections include tools for trades and industries; land and water vehicles; objects from domestic and community life as well as sports and recreation. There are books and historic documents; photographs and film. The museum is well known for its art collection, too.

TRANSITION - sounds

A local historian and philanthropist named Harold K. Hochschild was the driving force behind the creation of what would become the ADKX. He published a local history titled Township 34. That book was used as the basis for most of the original exhibits in the museum.

Here is a piece of an interview with him conducted by an Indian Lake high school student named Susan Hayes. She interviewed him on December 28, 1973. 

TRANSITION - another voice

Susan Hayes: How did the Museum get started?

Harold K. Hochschild:  In 1928 I met Mr. William West Durant who had lived here before us, and had a lot to do with the development of these lakes. I asked him some questions about the history of his times up here, just as you're asking me questions of my early days. And through my talks with him I got interested in the history of this region. During the 1930s I went around seeing some of the old-timers and asking them questions and I made notes of what they told me. They also gave me old photographs. By 1942 when I left home to go into the army and go overseas I had compiled all this information into about a 30 page memorandum and I had a box of 70 or 80 old photographs. 

While I was away for two and a half years, and when I came back I found this material and I had half a mind to forget all about it because it had been so long since I’d thought of it. But a friend of mine, to whom I happened to show it said, “no, you must go on with this. You must make a book of it.” And that’s what I did. From 1945, I guess it was, for the following six years I spent all of my spare time on this book. All my evenings, weekends, and vacations. And finally the book that I called Township 34 emerged.

Well, as a result, I think, of my asking them so many questions about the past the residents of the neighborhood got interested in the idea of having a museum. They, in 1948, formed a corporation for this purpose. But nothing happened, the project remained on paper and then a few years later they came to my wife and me and asked whether I would try to get this thing started. Made some visits to regionalist museums in New York and New England like Cooperstown, Shelburne, Old Sturbridge, and decided that it was something we would like to do. So, we decided we would like to undertake the project and all of a sudden we were it. 

If I remember correctly, we engaged our first director Dr. Inverarity in 1954 and I think it was in 1955 that the old Blue Mountain House decided to go out of business and that site became available. In 1955 we broke ground and the Museum opened in 1957. The boat building opened in 1965 and what we call the Road and Rail Transportation building was opened in 1969 or 1970. 

TRANSITION - sounds

There have been many changes since Mr. Hochschild spoke those words. For example; the Road and Rail Transportation building is now the Life in the Adirondacks exhibit with hands-on activities that he may never have dreamt possible.

I like his explanation of how the museum got its start because it shows that if you’re really interested in something, start sharing that passion with others. Your hobby could grow into a phenomenon that is loved by thousands of other people. And maybe it will be around educating and entertaining others for over sixty years.

TRANSITION - ADKX Podcast conclusion - Thank you for joining us for an episode of ADKX-tra Credit. This podcast is brought to you by Adirondack Experience, the museum on Blue Mountain Lake. Our mission is to expand understanding of Adirondack history and the relationship between people and the Adirondack wilderness, fostering informed choices for the future. If you want to learn more fun Adirondack history visit our website theadkx.org