An Adirondack History from Nicholas K. Burns Publishing, Independent Publishers since 2001

Mary MacKenzie’s scrupulous research, compiled and edited for this book by Lee Manchester, begins with the story of the first pioneer farmers drawn to North Elba from Vermont in 1800. Some of these farmers became hoteliers to accommodate the tourists who inevitably discovered North Elba’s majestic peaks and pristine lakes. Part II of the book, The Age of Hotels, contains fascinating histories of Lake Placid’s hotels past and present.

And, the book includes the names and bios of many of the free African Americans who settled here starting in 1848. MacKenzie debunks the myth that the black colony was a shanty town saying that the false reports, “…did a terrible disservice to those good and intelligent blacks and their valiant efforts to carve out a life in North Elba on their own individual plots.”

• “Lee Manchester did a masterful job–it’s wonderful. Few indeed are the resident historians who bring Mary MacKenzie’s curiosity, ability, and literary flair to their material–and what material it is! Through local history, Mrs. MacKenzie shows us the world.” –Amy Godine, writer and Adirondack social/ethnic historian

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MacKenzie also tells of Lake Placid’s most famous abolitionist, John Brown. He led four North Elban raiders to their deaths at Harper’s Ferry in 1859. MacKenzie’s story of the young men in the raid, the Thompsons, is personal and heartbreaking.

But there’s much more to MacKenzie’s Lake Placid story. Dashing actors and producers from the silent movie studios found the rugged scenery perfect for their rousing epics. Athletes careened down the bob-run and ski slopes where the Lake Placid Club virtually invented winter sports in America. All of this, of course, culminating in two Winter Olympiads.

• “What a wonderful achievement. Lee Manchester has done a service for our collective understanding of Adirondack history. Amazing. This book will forever change how the reader sees, understands, and appreciates this remarkable place.” Steven Engelhart, Executive Director, Adirondack Architectural Heritage

Through it all are MacKenzie’s local heroes, North Elbans of distinction. There’s Joe Nash and the Stevens brothers, hoteliers; the Pratt family, highway superintendents for over one hundred years; the ladies of the garden club and the directors of the bank. The ministers and their churches, the kids and their schools…all told in Mary MacKenzie’s delightful style–precise, confident, and with a touch of small town humor.

“In the minds of Adirondack scholars and lovers of local history, Mary MacKenzie created the history of Lake Placid, researching it from scratch and starting at the very beginning.”

Lee Manchester, Editor The Plains of Abraham: A History of North Elba and Lake Placid

The book has seventy-two historical essays divided into three parts: The Pioneers, The Age of Hotels, and Lake Placid, with an appendix containing a historical timeline.

In The Plains of Abraham: A History of North Elba and Lake Placid you’ll discover:

• Elijah Bennet: Lake Placid’s First Settler, page 3
• Farming in the Adirondacks, page 20
• The Elba Iron Works, page 59
• The Year Without a Summer, page 76
• The North Elba Black Colony with names and bios, page 129
• The Lake Placid Club, page 277
• Hotels: Lake Placid House (Brewsters), Stevens House, Grand View Hotel, Cascade House, Castle Rustico, Camp Woodsmoke (formerly Echo Lodge), Allen House, Mirror Lake House, Whiteface Inn, Ruisseaumont Hotel, Searles House, Northwoods Inn and Hotel Marcy, St. Moritz Hotel, pages 215-312
• Ice-trotting races, page 315
• Winter Sports in Lake Placid, page 322
• Lake Placid and the Silent Film Industry, page 355
• The Craig Wood Golf and Country Club, page 377
• Chronology of the History of North Elba and Lake Placid, a time line, page 389

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About the Author

Many interested in Adirondack history know of the writing of Mary MacKenzie, historian for the Town of North Elba since 1964. Over the years, they have read her historical essays in Adirondack Life magazine, the Conservationist, local newspapers and newsletters, and a fortunate few may have caught some of her lectures. Historians wondered if MacKenzie would ever collect all of her work into one place, finally creating a comprehensive history of North Elba and Lake Placid. She never did. After she passed away in 2003, her family asked Lee Manchester to execute her literary estate, resulting in The Plains of Abraham: A History of North Elba and Lake Placid.

About the Editor

Lee Manchester is a former staff writer for the Lake Placid News and is now the Director of Media Relations in the Office of Communications at Wagner College in Staten Island, New York.