Loch Muller Community Church

St. Gabriels Church
Currently St. Gabriels Church (Paul Smiths, Franklin County), although vacant is still owned by the Catholic Diocese and under oratory status. However, that status cannot be extended beyond ten years; according to the deed, once oratory status expires (November 24,2012), the property reverts back to the previous owner, in this case, Paul Smith's College. The college is interested in owning the building and restoring it for its use as a chapel and meeting place for student activities. Until this transpires, St. Gabriels Church is considered endangered.

The Daniel Ames House
The Daniel Ames House on NYS Route 86 (North Elba, Essex County) is an early 19th century Greek Revival style house that is unoccupied and deteriorating. It is owned by and on the grounds of the Saranac Lake Golf Club.

Aiden Lair
Aiden Lair, a well-known inn and stagecoach stop on Route 28N in Minerva (Essex County) is vacant and continues to deteriorate. Time is rapidly running out if this important roadside establishment is to preserved.

The Ross Mill
The Ross Mill (Willsboro, Essex County) is one of only a handfull of surviving grist mills in the region. It is abandoned and deteriorating.

Wellscroft
Wellscroft in Upper Jay, a Tudor Revival style house built in 1903 for Jean and Wallis Craig Smith of Saginaw, Michigan, included a 15,000 square foot main house, caretaker's house, children's playhouse, firehouse, powerhouse, and carriage house. Twice abandoned in the 1990s and extensively vandalized, Wellscroft appeared on AARCH's "Endangered Properties List" for several years. It had recently been restored, operating as an inn. It is going up for sale through a bankruptcy real estate auction on Monday, November 21 at 12 noon.

St. Regis Presbyterian Church
St. Regis Presbyterian Church in Paul Smiths. The church was designed by prolific Saranac Lake architect William L. Coulter and built on land donated by Paul Smith. Construction funds came from donations from the congregation, which was largely made up of summer residents. Dedication took place on July 15, 1899 and the church continued to serve the community until its closure in 2010, leaving its fate uncertain.

Fire Observation Towers
The fire observation towers on Hurricane Mountain (Essex County) and St. Regis Mountain (Franklin County) both face an uncertain future, primarily because of their location in "Wilderness" and "Canoe" areas respectively within the Forest Preserve. Both fire towers have friends groups, with legions of supporters, who have been very active and vocal about their preservation.
For more information about these efforts, contact:

Friends of Huricane Mountain Fire Tower
www.hurricanefiretower.org
PO Box 426
Elizabethtown, NY 12932
e-mail: HurricaneTower@charter.net

Friends of St. Regis Mountain Fire Tower
www.friendsofstregis.org
c/o David Petrelli
1008 County Route 25
Malone, NY 12953
e-mail: friendsofstregis@yahoo.com

Use these web sites to educate yourself about the importance of these towers, the efforts to save them, and to find out how to sign their petitions and/or write your own letters of support.

For AARCH's position on these fire towers, see the AARCH letters of support to the Adirondack Park Agency by clicking the links below.

AARCH Letter to APA 2-8-05 (pdf)
AARCH Letter to APA 4-17-06 (pdf)

We urge you to write the Park Agency or NYSDEC if you feel strongly about the preservation of these fire towers.

For more general information about Adirondack fire towers, see the Fire Towers section of this website.

Ausable River Bridges
There are three National Register-listed historic bridges over the Asuable River that face a very uncertain future. They are the River Street Bridge (1878) in Keeseville, the Old State Road Bridge (circa 1900) in Ausable Chasm, and the Walton Bridge (1890) in Keene. All have been closed to traffic and there are no current plans, by the Essex and Clinton County Departments of Public Works, to rehabilitate and reopen them.

The River Street Bridge
The River Street Bridge, the oldest Pratt Through Truss Bridge in New York State, is one of only about 75 cast and wrought iron bridges in the United States, and is also listed as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. In 2007, Essex County had an engineering assessment done for the bridge and is now, with support from AARCH, exploring various rehabilitation options.

The Old State Road Bridge
used to carry all of the northsouth traffic on NYS Route 9 until it was bypassed in the 1930s. This pony truss bridge also has a cantilevered sidewalk that allows pedestrians to view Rainbow and Horseshoe Falls at the entrance to Ausable Chasm.

The Otis Road Bridge
The Otis Road Bridge (Elizabethtown, Essex County), a 1914 Warren pony truss bridge, is endangered because of Essex County's plans to replace it, despite widepsread support for its preservation by residents that use it.

Although not as rare or speacial as some of the other bridges listed here, it is certainly worthy of our best efforts to preserve it. It is remarkably intact and has retained many of its original features. This kind of simple iron bridge, once common across the American landscape, is now an increasingly rare sight.

Margaret Bartley, Otis Mountain Camp & Homeowners Association
PO Box 42
New Russia, NY 12964
(518) 873-9225
otismountain@aol.com

To see AARCH's letters of support for these Essex County Bridges, link to the following:
River Street, Old State Road, and Walton bridges: LOS for Ausable River Bridges (pdf)
Otis Road Bridge: LOS for Otis Bridge 2-15-05 (pdf)

To express your support for the preservation of these bridges, write or contact the Essex County Board of Supervisors:
Noel Merrihew, Chairman Essex County Board of Supervisors
P.O. Box 217, 7551 Court Street
Elizabethtown, NY 12932
etown@charterinternet.com

For a complete list of historic bridges along the Ausable River and in Essex County, see:
The Historic Bridges of Essex County (pdf)

The Middleton Bridge
(Warrensburg, Warren County), a c.1896, eighty-nine foot, one-lane steel truss bridge connecting Schroon River Road (County Route 10) in Warrensburg with East Schroon River Road in Bolton, is scheduled for replacement in 2009. The current bridge is loadrated for three tons, and although it has a relatively low traffic volume, has been selected for replacement to "meet the current transportation needs."

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