A New Member Of The Family

I traveled down to Frontier Town, site of many previous blog posts, to pick up a new dog. PeeWee was an elderly Papillon mix with limited hearing and eyesight who had been surrendered for adoption by his family because of a divorce. And if that wasn't sad enough, he'd been attacked by a big dog and nearly killed, his neck now all sutured up like Frankenstein. How could I say no? So I met his foster family at Frontier Town. We let all the dogs sniff each other and then headed off on a walking tour of the old log village:

They clearly had come to love little PeeWee and were sad to see him go while also happy that he was going to a good home:

My dogs gave PeeWee a quick sniffing and then just simply admitted him to the family. After that, we all explored the old log village as if we'd always been together:

PeeWee was surprisingly spry for an old timer, and often led the procession:

We explored the forest and looked inside several of the old buildings. That's PeeWee, by the way, just ahead of Seamus and nose to nose with Clover. PeeWee and Clover look so much alike that sometimes I have to do a double take to know which is which:

We all walked over to explore the old storefronts. PeeWee once again led the way:

And then we walked farther back to see the old rodeo arena and stables:

PeeWee was a determined little dog, chugging along as if he was young and had never been attacked. I thought to myself, "This little guy has heart:"

We explored the old storefronts for a bit, including the old saloon where we discovered that the piano was still playable:

And PeeWee kept chugging along:

But soon it was time for his foster family to say goodbye to PeeWee and we all got back into our cars:

I had a long drive back to the farm and all four Papillons squeezed together on the front seat. PeeWee seemed kind of crushed against the back of the seat, but I think he liked the security of it. He seemed happy jammed in there where he wouldn't bounce around. So now there's a new dog in the family and he will appear, from time to time, in future blog posts:

A New View Of Old Frontier Town - Part 2

I was taking a break with the dogs at the former Frontier Town train station. We climbed up onto the platform:

Behind those bars, I guessed, was where they sold tickets:

But there wasn't a lot more to see, so we wandered over toward the hotel. Daphne found an old, rusty plow and lay down next to it:

And then the pooches discovered the frame of an old wagon:

I collected them by the wagon and told them to sit, but Fergus, always the nervous type, seemed to think I was up to something nefarious. And old Winky was not feeling well and was sleeping back in the car. So I got a photo of these four willing and happy subjects:

And then we walked back along the canal:

It was a merry procession of happy dogs as we made our way back to the car:

C'mon, Dad. You're walking too slow!:

We walked behind the old hotel and around the corner:

And opened the car doors, waking up old Winky. I helped him out of the car for a short pee break and then we continued on our way up to the farm:

Just outside the parking lot was the entrance to the modern tourist attraction at Exit 29, Jellystone Park. I'd always assumed it was just a campground, but from the road it looked like much more. A quick Google search told me that it is indeed a campground, but one with lots of special activities for kids and cabins for their parents:

I took one last look back at the old Frontier Town Hotel nestled in the Adirondack Mountains as I drove away:

A New View Of Old Frontier Town - Part 1

Another Sunday dawned bright and clear, the snow was all gone (even in the Adirondacks) and I set out for another visit to the farm with my dogs. My beloved old Wally had died the previous day and I missed him, but he'd had a happy life and the younger dogs wanted to have fun. So we stopped at Frontier Town, as we often do, for a rest stop. But instead of driving back to the old log cabin village or to the shores of the Schroon River, I parked next to the old hotel and we all walked around behind it:

There was a bog to our left and the old, abandoned hotel to our right. I felt sure the dogs would want to make a side trip over to the water's edge:

And indeed they did. Daphne and Clover arrived first:

But this was our real destination, a structure I'd seen from a distance many times but had so far never investigated. I'd guessed that it had been a sort of outdoor dining hall for the tourists:

We passed the end of the old hotel:

And arrived at what I'd thought was a dining hall. There were railroad ties and a platform. Well, of course! This had been one of the train stations for the Frontier Town train. And now I knew what the other, similar, structure was back in the forest by the village. It too used to be a train station:

We walked on past it, with an old fence and a canal on our right. That canal is what had prevented me from exploring this before:

The views were magnificent:

We came to an old bridge, so rickety that I wouldn't go near it and I wouldn't let Seamus do so either (he weighs too much):

And then we turned and headed back toward the train station and the hotel:

The dogs thought it was all fun. I don't think they cared where we went, as long as we were outdoors going somewhere:

Then we got to the train station, which we had not yet explored. But I'll post about that tomorrow:

Part 3, A Frontier Town Adventure

The dogs and I were exploring the old log village which was back in the forest, part of the former tourist attraction, Frontier Town:

The dogs stayed mostly in the open, so I had a good view of their meanderings:

And we occasionally pushed through the brush for a closer look at or inside other buildings:

But old Winky was waiting for us in the car and we had a long drive still ahead of us before we'd arrive at the farm. So I called the dogs and we began moving back toward our parked car:

But we first had to stop and check out the old fort. The adventure was spearheaded by Fergus and the three Papillons. There was what I guessed to be a log jail cell inside, but it was so dark that no pictures came out useable:

We left the fort behind and instead of returning past the church, we bore right for a walk past the old storefronts:

That building on the right was at one time, apparently, a concession stand:

We walked along the boardwalk in front of the storefronts and then back to our waiting car:

I got all the dogs loaded back up inside. Old Winky did not seem to have missed us one bit. In fact, he'd slept the whole time:

We drove past the storefronts one last time on our way out the rutted, overgrown lane:

And then, at the entrance, I couldn't resist a self portrait of myself inside the jail house. After that, we continued on our way toward the farm:

Part 2, A Frontier Town Adventure

The dogs and I were exploring the old village in the forest at the abandoned Frontier Town. The three adventurous Papillons led the charge:

Madeline has given up life as a city dog to run and play in the forest. She sure enjoys it:


The village seemed to me to have deteriorated noticeably just since last autumn. Furthermore, the property is for sale and I suppose it will be posted against trespassing. Add to that my soon to be accomplished permanent move to the farm, and I expected this might be our last visit to Frontier Town - or at least one of the last. So I wanted to record as much of it as I could for history:

We walked along the sandy lanes, looking into all the old, abandoned cabins:

And the dogs ran and played. Well, old Wally didn't play, but he was having a great time:

We headed off toward a corner of the property away from the cabins:

And there was the old pen where Frontier Town's two black bears used to be kept:

We found more log buildings:

And then we returned to the village. Wally was having a grand time in the warmth of the sun but he was both old and blind, so I had to watch him carefully and call to him frequently:

We headed to the center of the village, which must once have been the town square. The log church was directly ahead:

We approached the old church:

And then went inside. The old plank floors and log pulpit remained. But we weren't done exploring yet. I'll post more tomorrow: