Signage in the Park

With a park the size of the Adirondacks, a drive around Upstate New York can turn into a drive around the Adirondacks without too much trouble.  The "blue line" is in no way a physical border, and there are no checkpoints or ranger stations like in the National Parks out west.  The changes that occur upon entering the park are much more subtle; forests are denser, towns are smaller, and billboards disappear.  The most consistent change, however, is not in the makeup of the park itself, but in a seemingly minute detail:  the street signs change color.  Roads, bridges, lakes, and rivers are no longer announced in white and green, like in the rest of the state, but in yellow and brown.  The classic signs are at once a time-honored tradition and an intentional part of the appearance of the park.

Like many familiar with the Adirondacks, I welcome the signs as unifying reminder that I'm in a place that I love.  They are a part of the culture of the park, and are mimicked fondly on private land including the summer camp where I work.  There the wooden signs that label cabins and other buildings are painted Adirondack brown and yellow, as are the homemade signs that point down the road to the other privately owned houses and cottages on the lake.  Locals are so fond of the signs that when a 2009 proposal made by the Federal Highway Administration suggested a change from yellow to white lettering to improve visibility for drivers residents showed an overwhelming refusal.  Aside from the cost of replacing the signs, town officials from around the park also resisted against abandoning the color scheme for tradition's sake.  The yellow and brown are here to stay.

Tradition is not the only reason for keeping the signs.  The yellow and brown color scheme was originally inspired by the signs in National Parks in the west, and was implemented as an intentional marker of the limits of the park.  Today this is part of the Adirondack Park Association's attempt to help the park's "identity problem."  The signs signal to motorists that they are in a place that is special, which is something the APA thinks can be lost on visitors who only see the more developed areas of the park which crowd the roadsides. 

Whatever the reason for keeping them, I personally will continue to gratefully smile when I see the familiar brown and yellow as I drive into the Adirondacks.

Sources:

• http://poststar.com/news/local/adirondack-park-sign-change-proposal-sparks-protest/article_c331bd5d-81f3-5028-9e57-281d56dd4c62.html
• http://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/what-makes-this-a-park
• https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3604/3492610400_514fdc1b56_z.jpg