Family Ties

Over break I was talking with my grandma (Nana) about the classes I have been taking. When I mentioned that I was taking a seminar on the Adirondacks she perked up and mentioned that I probably had a lot of relatives, most likely third cousins, in the Adirondacks that I had never met. I asked her to tell me everything she remembered about the family history in the Adirondacks and this is the general gist of it:

My great grandfather (her father) was born in Port Leyden, New York, which is located in the South Western foothills of the Adirondacks. His name was Terrance Riley and he was born into a large family. After he graduated from Bentley College in the early 1930s, he was hired to run a lumbering project (The Kelly Stand) near Stratton mountain in Vermont. He got the job from family friends, the Johnstons, who owned a large lumber business in the Adirondacks that was heavily linked with West Virginia Paper and Pulp (now MeadWestvaco). Many of the workers on the stand in Vermont had moved with their families from Tupper Lake and other towns in the Adirondacks. All of the workers were paid in cash and many of them were Native Americans that were picked up from local bars in Vermont as well as the Adirondacks.

Many of Terrance's siblings chose to stay in the area, settling down in Long Lake and Tupper Lake. His sister even married the principal of the high school in Long Lake. My grandmother also fondly remembers driving to the Adirondacks from her childhood home in Arlington Vermont and swimming in Raquette Lake.

It was very interesting to hear her reminisce and to realize that I am not too far removed from the people who have created and continue to develop this grand Adirondack story.