Episode 20: Steamboat Travel in the ADK
Steamboats played an important role in the history of transportation in the Adirondacks. Why were they popular? And where did they go?
Touring an Adirondack lake in a steamboat. c. 1920 (P000557)
The Osprey in the pond at the Adirondack Museum in August 1957 ( P019959)
Connecting To Curriculum
Read-aloud. Students can follow along while listening. Download a copy of the transcripts here.
Vocabulary. Explore new words. Students will be listening to high level vocabulary in context. Have them identify the definition. Click here for the vocabulary page.
Social Studies. Create a timeline of transportation advancements.
Questions
Higher grade level students may want to explore some topics in more depth.
- Debate the pros and cons of human changes to the environment to help fuel progress. This podcast mentions damming and dredging. What are other examples? How did humans benefit? How did the environment suffer? How has this problem been addressed?
- Adirondack guides vehemently protested the advent of steamboat travel. Explore the tragic history of the Buttercup.
Postcard showing a steamboat travelling between Eagle Lake and Blue Mountain Lake. c.1890 (P001420)
A double-decker steamboat. c.1911 (P007122)
We've detected you might be speaking a different language. Do you want to change to:
English English 
French
Spanish