Deserted Village anthologies

Tales from the Deserted Village coverTALES FROM THE DESERTED VILLAGE: FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS OF EARLY EXPLORATIONS INTO THE HEART OF THE ADIRONDACKS
An anthology edited by Lee Manchester

The tale of Adirondac, the famous “Deserted Village” in Essex County’s Newcomb township, stands at the center of the saga of the exploration of New York State’s Adirondack High Peaks region. Starting with the discovery of its massive iron ore deposit in 1826, Adirondac drew industrialists, scientists, journalists and adventurers to the area. Some came to see the remarkable iron-processing plantation, established in the middle of the Adirondack forest, miles from nowhere; others used the settlement as a base for their exploration of Indian Pass, Lakes Colden and Avalanche, and Mount Marcy, whose summit was found to be the highest point in the Empire State. After the iron mine shut down in 1858, visitors continued to visit the abandoned site, which came to be known as the “Deserted Village.” This anthology includes all the 19th century accounts of visitors to Adirondac, starting with the letter penned by its discoverer, David Henderson, and ending — appropriately — with a ghost story. (Trade paperback, not illustrated, 432 pages)

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Annals of the Deserted Village coverANNALS OF THE DESERTED VILLAGE: KEY 20th CENTURY STUDIES OF AN EMBLEMATIC ADIRONDACK SETTLEMENT
An anthology edited by Lee Manchester

In 2003, the vast Tahawus Tract was purchased by the Open Space Institute, a nonprofit conservancy organization. With that purchase began yet another phase in the life of the Deserted Village. This anthology brings together the major 20th century studies of the McIntyre iron works and the Tahawus Club colony that later established itself in the abandoned iron workers’ village. “Annals” includes the summary essays of Alfred Donaldson, Harold Hochschild and Mary MacKenzie, plus both of Arthur Masten’s studies, Bruce Seely’s report for the Historic American Engineering Record, and Wesley Haynes’ documentation of the Tahawus Club buildings at the Upper Works. Masten, Seely and Haynes’ reports include all of their original diagrams and photography. It also includes reports from five key site visits made between 1968 and 1989 by Richard Sanders Allen, Victor R. Rolando, Doris Vanderlip Manley, Duncan E. Hay, and James P. Gold and colleagues. (8.5×11″ paperback, fully illustrated (B&W), 634 pages)

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Yet more from the Deserted Village: The third & final collectionYET MORE FROM THE DESERTED VILLAGE
Miscellaneous papers compiled by Lee Manchester

This is my third and final collection of source materials and significant articles published about the McIntyre iron works in Newcomb township, Essex County, New York. It contains facsimiles of three company sales prospectuses (1840, 1851 and 1854), an account of an 1853 visit to the works, an 1874 travel-guide description of the property, a remembrance of John Cheney by a Tahawus Club member, three articles about the Jersey City steel industry, several Essex County newspaper articles from the 1940s, a series from the National Lead Co. magazine “Cloudsplitter,” a summary article by Bruce Seely about his landmark study of the works, and a recounting of the restoration of the MacNaughton Cottage and the New Furnace by Janet Null. (8.5×11″ paperback, fully illustrated (B&W), 230 pages)

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Graphic supplement for 'Deserted Village' coverGRAPHIC SUPPLEMENT TO ‘TALES FROM THE DESERTED VILLAGE’
Archival photographs, drawings and engravings
to accompany “Tales of the Deserted Village”

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