North Creek Tours
call 518-260-5207
look for the yellow umbrella
If History were taught in the form of stories it would never be forgotten.
Rudyard Kipling
Main Street in North Creek c.1920's Photo Courtesy of Johnsburg Historical Society.
Guided Historic Walking Tour With a Bit of Flavor..
Tour begins at North Creek's Nationally Recognized Historic Railroad Station where Theodore Roosevelt learned he would become the 26th President of the United States upon McKinley's death in 1901
Stroll the main street of this charming town with a local historian and sample locally mades foods while learning about the Adirondacks more than 100 years ago when tanneries, logging and mining were the backbone of industry. There is a treasure trove of properties to explore which tell the story of the development of this Adirondack town. For example, the John Wade Building, combination butcher shop and mortuary opening on Christmas day 1894, now Cafe Sarah. Sarah was trained in French Pastries at "Rovers," a high-end French Restaurant in Seattle and we're happy she calls North Creek home. Go downstairs to what was once a poker hall and speakeasy during prohibition called "the Pig's Ear," now home of Barkeater Chocolates where you'll find some of the best handmade chocolate truffles within this 6 million acre park.
Tour will include a visit to the Owens House Gallery where you'll view the current exhibit entitled "The Country Doctor." A re-creation of a small town doctor's office complete with doctor's bags, instruments in fine leather cases, cases holding syringes and multi-colored bottles, an instrument sterilizer and a Coolidge portable x-ray machine from the 1920’s, that looks like it belongs in an old Frankenstein movie. A group of contemporary photographs will also be on display taken by our very own current country doctor, Daniel Way, M.D. Shown will be portraits of his patients while on house call. Their images and stories reveal the emotional spectrum: humor, sorrow, wonder, and stress.
Tour will conclude at the Tannery Pond Community Center, site of the original tannery in 1852, now a state of the art performance center. Here you can sit and relax in the upper lobby that looks out at the stream and houses a 6-foot by 10 foot stained glass hanging called “Imaginative Spirit”. A gallery, also with views of the stream, is the home of the lovely O’Keeffe stage curtain that originally graced the stage of the O’Keeffe Opera House in 1892, above today’s Brooks Pharmacy in North Creek a role it has fulfilled for 120 years.
