As forecast, the day started wet and chilly! ☔️💨 It’s been raining on and off all day, sometimes very heavily so most of our activities were indoors.
After breakfast, we decided to go and visit the home of the abolitionist, John Brown. You may know the song, “John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave”?
John Brown, born 9th May, 1800, owned a farm in North Elba, situated in New York State’s Adirondack Mountains. He loved the farm but spent hardly anytime there as he was following his cause of abolishing slavery.
Si outside John Brown’s house
There are only two original pieces of furniture in the house:
John Brown’s bookcase/china holder
The top cupboard is was built by John Brown’s son-inlaw
Part of the upstairs where the children slept!
The spinning wheel
He was married twice and had twenty children, nine of whom died in childhood. He married his second wife, Mary Ann Day in 1833 when she was just 17. She possessed great physical stamina and was devoted to her responsibilities managing the household and raising the children. She and John had 13 children, but only six survived to adulthood and just four survived their father.
John Brown
Mary Brown with two of her daughters
A shaving bowl made from the gallows where John Brown was hanged!
A statue erected in memory of John Brown and a slave boy
In a story he told to his family, when he was 12 years old and away from home moving cattle, Brown worked for a man with a slave boy, who was beaten before him with an iron shovel. He asked the man why he was treated like that, and the answer was that he was a slave. According to Brown’s son-in-law, Henry Thompson, it was that moment when John Brown decided to dedicate his life to improving African Americans’ conditions.
On the night of 16th October,1859, Brown and his followers assaulted the U.S. Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, planning to use the captured arms in an extensive campaign for the liberation of the slaves in the South. Brown was captured on 18th October, 1859, imprisoned at Charlestown, Virginia, tried by the Commonwealth of Virginia, and hanged on 2nd December, 1859.
We visited Harper’s Ferry back in 2013 and learnt all about John Brown’s adventure there!
Harpers Ferry – Photo taken during our trip in 2013!
Mary brought his body back to the farm in North Elba and he was buried in front of his home on December 8, 1859. The remains of several of Brown’s followers, who fought and died at Harper’s Ferry, were moved to this small graveyard in 1899.
Although John wanted Mary to stay on at the farm after his death, she decided she could no longer cope on the farm, so In 1863, she and her children moved to California where she died on 29th February, 1884 at the age of 68 and is buried in Madronia Cemetery, Saratoga.
Slavery was eventually abolished in the US on 6th December 1865. Although Brown did not live to see the day, he was certainly a major contributor to its ending.
In 1999, 140 years later, John Brown Lives! was born and there is an annual gathering at his farm in North Elba. Their mission, quote, “is to not just honour John Brown’s forceful voice in bringing an end to slavery, but to take his lead and follow in his footsteps, promoting social justice and human rights through reflection and activism, awareness and exploration, kinship and individual action”.
We spent a long time in the house talking to a lovely young man called Patrick. He is the Historic Interpreter or Guide, as he calls himself, at the farm. His knowledge of all things relating to John Brown was vast and it was obvious that he has a great deal of respect for John Brown and what he was attempting to achieve with regard to slavery.
Patrick, the Historic Interpreter (Guide) 😊
Next, we decided to visit Lake Placid’s Olympic Museum, where we learnt all about the two Winter Olympic Games held there in 1932 and 1980. As a two-times Olympic Host City, they are home to North America’s second-largest Winter Olympic artifact collection.
Suits us, don’t you think? 😂
The USA beat Russia in the semi-finals of the ice hockey in 1980 before going on to beat Finland for the Gold medal!
Original tickets to the 1932 Winter Olympics
Linda Fratianne wore this dress at the 1980 Winter Games. Pinned into the left shoulder is a tiny pouch blessed by the Pope, which contains several good luck charms. She secured a silver medal in the free skate performance.
The original scoreboard used when the US beat the Russians in the 1980 semi-finals of the ice hockey. The US went on to beat Finland in the finals so winning the Gold medal.
Finally, we headed to High Falls Gorge to experience, quote, ‘The Adirondacks’ Most Breathtaking 30-Minute Walk!” We didn’t know what to expect really, apart from the fact that there was a waterfall. Well, we were blown away by what we actually found there! 😱
We thought Ricketts Glen’s waterfalls were amazing but this surpassed everything for sheer volume of water and noise. It was also blowing a gale, so please excuse any wind noise on the videos! 💨
The same type of rock was found by Astronauts who visited the moon!
High Falls Gorge Waterfall!
Yes, that’s a tree!
The calm before the storm!
As we returned from High Falls Gorge the rain started to lash down, so we decided to stop quickly for some dinner to save us having to venture out again this evening. We stopped at the Black Bear restaurant just down from the hotel and Si had ribeye steak and for me, fish and chips. Everything was delicious!
So, even though the weather has not been good today, we managed to pack a great deal in and to even stay dry! ☔️
Tomorrow looks chilly again but at least it should stay dry! 🤞
Hope you’ll join us tomorrow for more of our adventures.
As always, thanks for reading.