Calendar of Events

The Adirondack mountains, lakes, and forests are an international symbol of wilderness within which humans are often considered to be recent intruders. In fact, the story of the human presence on this landscape runs even deeper than the forests themselves. Since the end of the last Ice Age when open tundra still dominated the region, […]

In 1846, communities and organizers from the Hudson River Valley mounted the first voting rights protection efforts for African Americans by purchasing land in the Adirondack Mountains and founding a number of free Black hamlets or Black suffrage communities. The movement was the backbone of what would become the voting rights efforts and Underground Railroad. […]

For nearly two centuries, the remote forestlands and high mountain peaks of the Adirondacks have provided opportunities for middle-class recreation, wilderness adventure, and scientific research. At the same time, those natural characteristics led state and federal authorities to look toward the North Country as a convenient location for a network of prisons. Towns and villages […]

The voices of women are often silent in the vast history of the Adirondacks, but women have always lived here and considered it their home. Beginning with Indigenous women that inhabited the Adirondacks for countless generations prior to colonization to enslaved and free women that settled the region and ran households, farms, and social movements, […]

The Adirondack mountains are part of the traditional homeland of the Mohawk (Kaniekehaka). Lost through theft, illegitimate treaty agreements, and fraudulent land sales after the American Revolution, the Mohawk people have made efforts to reclaim some land, mostly adjacent to the current reservation, and affirm that the mountains are still legally part of the original […]

As social protest movements swept across the nation in the late 1960s, Indigenous activists embraced direct action as a strategy to address historical injustices that continued to negatively impact their communities. Frustrated by centuries of broken treaties and the steady erosion of their sovereignty, they sought to bring greater visibility and awareness to their cause […]

In 1892 the Adirondack Park was established for “the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure.” Unfortunately, this expansive democratic ideal, commonly associated with public lands, tends to obscure the economic, cultural, and geographic barriers that have undercut efforts to make the Adirondacks a more inclusive and welcoming space. The demographic […]

This is a virtual event to take place on Zoom. Throughout history, scholars, writers, artists, and activists have looked beyond the dominant cultural attitudes of their era to re-evaluate the way we organize our relationship with the natural world. The “Romantic Revolt” of Emerson and Thoreau, the conservation ethic of Gifford Pinchot, John Muir’s passion […]

This is a virtual event to take place on Zoom. The history of the Adirondacks region has long privileged accounts of Euro-American settlement: taming a wild landscape and establishing a multi-generational presence across the North Country. Within the last few decades, individuals and organizations across the Adirondacks have increasingly challenged the cultural, social, and political […]

This is a virtual event to take place on Zoom. Today, in order to remain relevant, we must adapt and address the challenges and obstacles that stand in the way of promoting a more diverse and inclusive environment. This is especially true of a place like the Adirondack Park. There is an increasing recognition that […]

This is a virtual event to take place on Zoom. During this final roundtable discussion in the "Adirondacks for All" week-long symposium, Aaron Mair will engage state representatives and Adirondack stakeholders in a conversation that touches on the past, present, and future of the Adirondacks. Mair is currently leading the Adirondack Council's "Forever Adirondacks" campaign […]