Part 2 - Riparius, New York

I was on my way up to the farm with the dogs, but had stopped along the way to take a driving tour of the little Adirondack town of Riparius:

There was a truss manufacturer:

And fine old homes with lilacs out front:

There was this old garage:

And an old house which apparently had a lot going on:

Another old garage, helping to give me a mental picture of the town's past:

And this lovely home with its picket fence and apple blossoms:

Riparius had a volunteer fire department:

We returned back to the center of town, driving right past the caboose at the train station and heading for the bridge which spanned the Hudson River:

This large house on the shore of the Hudson looked to have had many additions over the years:

And this place was covered in Adirondack style board and batten:

A local artisan was making rustic furniture and other Adirondack wood products. But there was still more to see in this tiny village, a lot more. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

Part 1 - Riparius, New York

I took a new route up to the farm one day and was traveling Route 8. I passed through the little Adirondack town of Riparius. It looked interesting but I didn't want to slow down for photos. I drove through the town and was about to continue on my way when I decided I simply couldn't let such a picturesque town go unphotographed. So I turned around and drove through the town again - only more slowly the second time:

There were grand old homes with big porches:

And major stone foundations, not to mention stone garages:

More stonework, another big porch and a long series of stairs down to the road:

This might have been an old school house once upon a time but appeared to be someone's home now:

Newer construction in a lovely setting:

The Hudson River passed right through the center of town. In fact, I've read that the original name of the town was Riverside, but that had to be changed because there were too many other towns with that name. So the good townspeople simply changed the name to Riparius, which simply means "riverside" in Latin:

There was a riverside (literally - you can see the Hudson River in the background) train station and an old caboose:

The train station still says "Riverside" and is little changed since 1913. It is still in use today and is a stop on the Saratoga North Creek Railway scenic railway:

The next building between the road and the river was the Scenic Outlook Studios, a gallery of regional artists and a working pottery studio. Paintings, pottery, sculpture, jewelry, textiles, woodwork, toys and handmade books:

There was an old metal covered garage:

And lots of scenic views of the homes on the opposite shore of the Hudson River. I decided I'd have to cross the old bridge and have a look over there. But I'll post more about Riparius tomorrow:

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: