civilized ku # 2795-98 ~ bully! daze

Teddy and the wife ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
using the Bully Pulpit ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
Teddy, the Rough Rider ~ Newcomb, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
portrait ~ Train Station / North Creek, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenThis past weekend was the annual Teddy Roosevelt Days celebration here in Newcomb. Why Teddy Roosevelt and Newcomb together, you might wonder? Well, read on ....

The short version is that, on the damp night of September 14, 1901 Vice President Theodore Roosevelt made his legendary night ride from the Tahawus Club near Newcomb, NY in the Adirondack Mountains to the Presidency of the United States of America. The long version is ....

.... On September 6, 1901, President William McKinley, while attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, was shot by anarchist. Vice President Teddy Roosevelt was summoned to Buffalo but, after McKinley's condition had greatly improved, Roosevelt was advised to leave Buffalo in order to reassure the public about the President's condition.

Roosevelt then traveled to the Adirondacks, a place where he spent considerable time over the years, to join his family at the Tahawus Club near Newcomb. On September 12, he, his family, and guides hiked up Mount Marcy, the tallest mountain in New York State. During this hike, on the shores of Lake Tear-of-the-Clouds, Roosevelt received word that McKinley had taken a turn for the worse. A local man named Harrison Hall made the climb to Roosevelt on Mount Marcy with a telegram announcing the president's now grave condition.

Roosevelt was reluctant to depart immediately and informed his wife that because he had just been there, he would not return to Buffalo until truly needed. However, another telegram announcing that the president was dying banished thoughts of waiting any longer. So, Shortly before midnight, Roosevelt traveled by buckboard wagon from the upper camp of the Tahawus Club to the North Creek, N.Y. train station located 35 miles away. The trip (7 hours by day) involved 3 changes of wagons, with fresh drivers and horses each time.

Roosevelt departed from the Upper Tahawus Club, traveling ten miles in two hours to the cabins of the Tahawus Post Office, where he would make his first wagon change. From here he traveled an additional two hours and twenty minutes over a stretch of nine miles to Aiden Lair Lodge, a popular resort for sportsmen in Minerva, N.Y. Roosevelt once again changed wagons around 3:30 a.m. Mike Cronin, the proprietor of the lodge, would usher the Vice President the final sixteen miles. Despite a dark and slippery road, the two would make it to North Creek in record-breaking time.

Upon arriving at the train station in North Creek, Roosevelt's secretary delivered a telegram announcing McKinley's death at 2:15 that morning. Roosevelt had ascended to presidency on the dark, slippery Adirondack roads hours before - hence, Teddy Roosevelt Days in Newcomb, NY.

The annual celebration has a wide range of events; lumberjack competition between 2 colleges with environmental / forestry schools, dances, luncheons, a guideboat gathering, quilting exhibits, wagon rides to Santanoni great camp's farm complex, a guided tour of the ruins of the McIntrye Mine Works at Tahawus and others.

Needless to write, the wife was thrilled beyond belief to meet the President. Teddy gave a rousing speech (bully!) about his love of the Adirondacks and his ideas about / use of the Bully Pulpit (bully!) as platform for getting his message(s) across. He mingled with the crowd and even manned a saw with one of the lumberjack competitors.

Bully for him. He's got my vote.

Read some interesting facts about Teddy.

FYI, Teddy, Pince-Nez eyeglass wearer that he was, spent some time with me admiring my $1000 specs.