Ellen Apperson Brown gave a talk at her alma mater, Sweet Briar College, talking about her book, John Apperson;s Lake George. She also gave a biographical sketch of her own life and education.

1. Friends of the Library
Sweet Briar College – October 2017
They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot…
Joni Mitchell (Ladies of the Canyon) - 1970
Thanks to John Apperson, an engineer working at G.E. in Schenectady, no one ever put up any pink hotels or
parking lots on Dome Island, the centerpiece of Lake George.

2. Long before Joni Mitchell wrote this song, John Apperson was protecting Lake George from loggers,
squatters, and developers, and thwarting the plans of those who were trying to put up boutiques and hot
spots, too. Ellen Brown’s new book, John Apperson’s Lake George, tells the story.

3. About me: I, Ellen Apperson Brown (SBC ‘72) have spent the last 2½ decades working on a biography of my
great uncle, John S. Apperson, Jr. (1878-1963). I hope to find a way to bring his story to the attention of
scholars and environmental historians, inserting this missing chapter of environmental history into the text
books, and attracting students and scholars to help me develop a digital archive about Adirondack Activism.
This talk will introduce you to two interesting stories – one about a man from Virginia who devoted more than
sixty years of his life to a very ambitious project, of protecting the Adirondack Park and Forest Preserve from
logging, squatters, and commercial development. His remarkable story has remained hidden from view
throughout most of the 20th century, but now his photographs and letters are being archived and published by
me, Ellen Brown, as well as archivists at Union College’s Kelly Adirondack Center, in Schenectady.
The second story is about my own ambitious project – writing and publishing a book about the early
preservation movement, in the New York Adirondacks and at Lake George. I have chased after a classic liberal
arts education, having studied music, foreign languages, creative writing, and history, while raising two
children, running non-profits, and starting-up a small business as a public historian.

4. • John S. Apperson, Jr. was born in Southwest Virginia (Chilhowie) in
1878, to Dr. John S. Apperson, Sr. and Ellen Victoria Hull Apperson, the
sixth of seven children.
• In 1887 the Apperson family moved to Marion, VA, where Dr.
Apperson served on the staff of a new psychiatric hospital. Mrs.
Apperson, who had been suffering from anemia for several years, died
that September, when John was only nine years old. The doctor soon
remarried and had four more children, but John’s siblings were not
very happy about having a new step-mother. John found an escape in
the out-of-doors, hiking and exploring the countryside.
• In 1894, John enrolled as a sub-freshman at the Virginia Polytechnic
Institute, where his older brother, Hull, was a graduate student
studying electrical engineering. After two years his father forced him
to drop out and get a job. He found work with the Marion and Rye
Valley Railroad where he became a surveyor and manager,
responsible for laying tracks for a branch line into Grayson County.
• By 1900 John and Hull decided to venture north to Schenectady, to
the General Electric Company, to seek employment in the Electric City.
A little history about Apperson’s Virginia childhood and education

5. • Hiking, camping (especially in the winter), and exotic new winter sports
• Planning camping trips to the islands at Lake George
• Solving problems (erosion, logging, and commercial development)
• Finding practical solutions (rip-rapping, removing squatters)
• Fighting Legislative battles; defending forever wild; Constitutional Convention (1915)
• Keeping up the pressure against crooked officials (watchdog and whistleblower)
• Making friends and allies among prominent land owners, politicians, and progressive women
• Joining clubs and organizations (Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, Adirondack
Mountain Club, Lake George Association); when these clubs were not effective, he started his own:
New York Forest Preserve Association & the Lake George Protective Association.
• Fighting to create a Lake George Park (to include Northwest Bay, Tongue Mountain, Paradise Bay)
• Developing a preservation lobby (with help from progressive women in NYC)
John, the younger brother, was accepted into the engineering training
program, and by 1918 had become the #2 person in the Power and
Mining Department. In his spare time he explored the vast playground
of the Adirondack Park. He loved:

6. Lessons in becoming an activist:
Some of the strategies Apperson developed:
• Making friends with others who shared his enthusiasm for recreation
• Taking documentary photographs and publishing them in pamphlets
and brochures
• Mastering the law with help from several lawyer friends
• Building a network of friends and associates (a preservation lobby);
joining clubs and organizations
• Writing letters, giving speeches; recruiting others
• Enjoying a good fight, especially against powerful opponents

7. For the Love of Island Camping
West Dollar Island – c. 1910
I offered a series of lectures this past summer, and here are some excerpts from the
one I gave at the Lake George Land Conservancy, in Bolton Landing.

8. At the turn of the twentieth century, at General Electric, in Schenectady, hundreds of young men (and
women) were stuck in shops and offices all day, and lived in cramped boarding houses. Many of them
were thrilled to get away from the city and try camping in the Narrows at Lake George…

9. Few people realize that Apperson and some of his friends from GE in Schenectady began offering
classes in skate-sailing, as a way to promote winter sports at Lake George.

10. Here he is (black sail) teaching classes in skate-sailing…

11. By 1910, Lake George was already a popular tourist destination…
According to one letter in the files, the manager of the D&H Railroad
(Steamboat Line) estimated that 150,000 people visited Lake George in 1910…

12. 1913 - Apperson went to Albany and began learning how to protect forever wild…
The Schenectady Conservation Commission appointed Apperson to represent them at special
legislative hearings in Albany, giving him a chance to meet many key individuals who were leading the
conservation debates. In August of 1913 he received this hand-written note from someone
(unnamed) who began teaching him the ropes in politics:
Dear App,
The conversations you had at Albany – as related by you – with these “conservation” people are
very significant and leading directly to their vulnerable points of weakness and incompetence.
They are mere puppets – I think your experience with data and obvious deductions should be
put in the hands of Mr. Hennessey and I will be happy to help you frame up a modest expression
of same. It is a vital part of your present action it seems to me. (Signature illegible)
[Letter to John Apperson, author unknown, 1913]

13. Forever Wild – Article 7, Section 7 - NY Constitution (later Art 14, Section 1)
The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter
acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed
by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They
shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by
any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber
thereon be sold, removed or destroyed.

14. Wealthy families were buying shoreline properties, and creating “Millionaire’s Row”
William K. Bixby, near his home on Mohican Point, c. 1921

15. Many of these summer residents formed an organization, the Lake George Association, to
have some control over development and regulations at the lake. Some members were
mainly interested in having an exclusive club to belong to, but a few others began to think
about preserving the natural beauty of the state-owned islands in the Narrows…

16. Enthusiastic outdoorsmen…
Much like John Muir and Robert Marshall, who
were both avid hikers, Apperson had amazing
stamina and energy, and delighted in climbing the
highest peaks, on skis, in the dead of winter. One
of his best friends, starting in 1910, was the
brilliant scientist, Dr. Irving Langmuir, another
enthusiastic outdoorsman who had learned to ski
in the Alps. Langmuir participated in the island
camping and rip-rapping of shores, and purchased
camps in Turtle Bay and in Huddle Bay, part of a
mutual effort to develop “preservation
communities” of like-minded people who agreed
on certain restrictions on the use of the land.
Langmuir, using a movie camera, in 1921

17. In 1915, at the Constitutional Convention, John Apperson (age 38) gave an important speech.
Here is a letter of congratulations from William T. Hornaday, a pioneer in the early wildlife
conservation movement.
I congratulate you most heartily on having won your fight against the
leasing of camp sites in the Adirondacks. That victory I regard as wholly yours.
If you had not started the campaign, and kept it up in the masterful manner
which you did, beyond all question there would have gone into the
constitution something providing for the leasing of camp grounds. The people
who hereafter will enjoy the freedom of the campsites of the Adirondacks,
unhampered and unafraid of restrictions and limitations that might be
imposed by those who are exploiting the Adirondacks for commercial
purposes, will need to thank you for the freedom that they will enjoy! …
I shall duly record the fact that the leasing of camp sites was prevented by
the far-sightedness, good generalship and love-of-the-open in the Adirondacks
of J.S. Apperson of Schenectady, New York!

18. At the convention, Apperson found a new friend: Warwick Carpenter,
Secretary of the Conservation Commission, and wrote him a letter,
describing his rip-rapping efforts at Lake George. (April 18, 1916)
The conservation work done by my friends would make too long
a letter, but you might like to know that three hundred and eleven
people from twelve nations and twenty-seven different states,
have been assisted at least once to visit a certain State island
[Dollar Island], and each helped to save the place, some staying
only a few hours and carrying only one stone, others brought
several, and some contributed several boat-loads each day during
their two weeks’ vacation.

19. In 1917, Ernest Stires, an Episcopal clergyman, helped secure an appropriation of $10,000, to protect
the islands from erosion…
Dr. E. M. Stires May 24, 1917
5th Avenue & 53rd Street; New York
Dear Dr. Stires:
The Governor signed my Lake George bill yesterday, appropriating ten
thousand dollars ($10,000) for protecting the State islands and I want you
to know that I appreciate your efforts with Senator Mills.
With best regards, I remain, Sincerely yours, JSA

20. After noticing a landslide on Dome Island, in 1917, Apperson tried to contact the owner to get
permission to repair the shore. The owner did not respond, but William K. Bixby, a
philanthropist who owned considerable property at the lake, offered to help:
I will be very glad to contribute the amount needed to finish the
work on the west bank that you have started, and I will be one of a
group of five or six to buy Dome Island if Mr. Sexton does not lease it
for the use of the public. If such purchase was made I should favor
giving the island to a board of trustees for the benefit of the town of
Bolton.
Sincerely, W. K. Bixby

21. Bixby made an interesting proposal…
I would like to see the island left to the town of
Bolton. The yearly expense would be nominal and
those responsible nearby. It might also be beneficial
to the town to have the responsibility of taking care
of the island. Your advice on this point would be
helpful.
Bixby also took an interest in preserving the natural scenery on both sides
of the Narrows, and supported a movement to create a Lake George Park,
starting in 1923.

22. William K. Bixby, in front of his boathouse…
Hilda Loines with her niece, Barbara, near the Quarterdeck, in Northwest Bay…

23. Becoming a land-owner, and finding friends among the neighbors…
When Apperson purchased property
in Huddle Bay (the old Lake View
Hotel), he was eager to continue
promoting recreation from his new
“camp.” His new neighbors, G. Hall
Roosevelt (Eleanor’s brother) and
William Dalton, who had also
purchased parcels from the hotel
property, joined enthusiastically in
helping to host a regatta for the
American Canoe Association, in the
summer of 1921. We are fairly certain
that Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt
were among the guests at the regatta,
and Apperson later turned to
Roosevelt for help with his favorite
cause – creating a Lake George Park

24. He made friends with two sisters that summer, Sylvia and Hilda Loines, from Brooklyn.
Apperson enjoyed helping them purchase proper equipment for winter sports. It wasn’t
long before he met their nieces, Margot and Barbara Loines, and had fun taking them on
wintry excursions in Northwest Bay.

25. Hilda and Sylvia Loines were eager to try another new sport – skiing… Notice that
they do not have ski poles!

26. Apperson’s correspondence with members of the Loines family are featured on our new
website… http://adirondackactivism.com
Other batches of letters will be posted soon, allowing researchers a chance to read primary
source documents that have never been published before.
You may also be interested to read letters
exchanged between John Apperson and:
• Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt
• George Foster Peabody
• Robert Moses (Power Broker – NY Secretary of
State)
• Gov. Al Smith
• Conservation commissioners and other state
officials
• Ethel Dreier – President of the NY City Women’s
Club

27. Just to re-cap some of John Apperson’s accomplishments…
• Over fifty islands at Lake George were protected from erosion (rip-rapping)
• Dome Island belongs to the Nature Conservancy as a nature preserve
• Over ten miles of natural scenery at Lake George are protected
• The Blue Line was extended in 1931 to include Lake George
• Hundreds of “ordinary people” have learned how to become activists
• The constitutional protections of “forever wild” are still in place
• The state now regulates water levels from the commercial operations at the outlet of
Lake George ( at Ticonderoga)

28. Hopes and dreams for a 21st century…
We are hoping to launch an “Adirondack Activism History Project” to accomplish several goals:
1) Teach others about the early history of activism at Lake George, by publishing documents and
narratives on our new website (http://adirondackactivism.com)
2) Seek support from several non-profits in the Adirondacks, to help us raise money for our project
3) Recruit scholars, students, and other volunteers to get involved, doing research, posting info on
the website
4) Sponsor lecture series (like this one)
5) Support the ongoing services of a computer/web design expert
6) Set up an office in an appropriate museum or archive
7) Design workbooks and other publications for use by high school teachers, hiking organizations,
etc.

29. Finding my voice, and my calling…
Sweet Briar College, c. 1968, was going through many revolutionary changes. We
were questioning everything back then, and challenging the status quo. We
boycotted the May Day celebration, and soon persuaded the administration to
change its antiquated rules about reporting and recording offenses. (Ask me what I
mean by that!)Then came Kent State, student strikes, and the new trend of asking
“Is God dead?”
I found solace and guidance in a fabulous faculty advisor – Professor Ralph Aiken. He
advised us to turn to classic literature as a source of wisdom. He was so right to do
so! He persuaded me to stay at Sweet Briar ( I had been thinking of transferring to
Chapel Hill) and helped me to figure out that a terrific education was there for me, if
only I would reach out and grab it!
I became a music major rather by default, and have always wondered if I would have
been happier as an English major…or maybe even a history major! I believe that I
did get a good dose of critical thinking, and left campus determined to learn and
grow. I ended up in Austria, and that was fun…

30. My Liberal Arts Education
• Schenectady, NY
• Erie, PA
• Charlotte, NC (Myers Park H.S.)
• Sweet Briar, VA (A.B. in Music – 1972)
• Vienna, Austria (Fulbright Assistant Teacher)
• Charlottesville, (MAT in German - UVA)
• Lynchburg, VA (Virginia Episcopal School – faculty wife)
• Alexandria, VA (Director of Sarah’s Circle)
• Roanoke, VA (Teacher – ESL and German)
• Asheville, NC (M.L.A. - UNC-A)
• Blacksburg, VA (MA in History - Virginia Tech)
• Patrick County, VA (Director - Reynolds Homestead Continuing
Education Center)
• Radford, VA (Director - Glencoe Museum)
• Roanoke, VA (Public Historian)
• Asheville, NC (published author – finally!)
Summer of 1970 – Lake George
Ellen and her brother, Tom

31. Trying out different career paths…
• Sweet Tones and SBC choir
• Travel to Austria; learning German
• Teaching English in Austria
• Modern German Literature (comparative literature)
• Teaching German at VES; Alumni Development; Editing VES magazine
• Founding the Free Clinic of Central Virginia
• Director of Sarah’s Circle in Adams Morgan, Washington, DC
• Teaching public school in Roanoke and Salem, VA
• Starting over after divorce – recognizing passion for history

32. Looking ahead (lifting the John Apperson story up out of obscurity), I hope to:
• Launch an Adirondack Activism history project
• Continue to develop a website (digital archive)
• Find a suitable sponsoring organization ( Union College?)
• Keep writing articles for publication ( New York History blog, etc.)
• Give workshops and lectures about John Apperson’s achievements
• Share archival materials with colleges, museums, and independent scholars
• Develop other digital archives ( websites), including one about the Virginia
Frontier ( Mary Draper Ingles)
Have a look at our website www.adirondackactivism.com
Send me an email inglesferry@gmail.com
Or give me a call - 828-785-4225

33. You don’t know what you’ve got ‘till its gone…