Historical Society of the Town of Chester

09/01/2026

A travel revolution - bags checked through to Schroon Lake, via rail, coach and steamer.

A visit to the lower Adirondacks from New York City prior to the 1870s was a long and arduous trip. Although residents of the City seeking scenery and relaxation in upstate New York could reach Saratoga Springs by rail in as little as seven hours, hardy souls venturing beyond the famous spa to reach the more rugged beauty of the Schroon Lake region would likely more than triple their travel time to go the sixty extra miles by coach and wagon. Only a few intrepid tourists, aside from hunters and anglers, bothered to make the trip.

All this changed when the age of steam reached the lower Adirondacks in the late 1860s. The Adirondack Company had begun building a railroad north from Saratoga to and along the Hudson River. By 1869, rail service reached Thurman and, by 1870, The Glen. During the period the passenger line ended at The Glen, travelers would first take a coach to Chestertown and then take another to meet the first Schroon Lake steamboat. This “pretty little steamer” was the Libbie S. Benedict, owned by Charles E. Benedict (later called “Commodore Benedict”), a Saratoga-based executive with a sleeping car company.

By the spring of 1872, passenger trains were stopping at a new station north of The Glen in Johnsburg, which the Adirondack Company called “Riverside.” This was a period of intense transportation infrastructure development in and around Chester, likely not matched until the construction of the Northway nearly a century later. Not only had rails been laid along the west bank of the Hudson and a station built, but a suspension bridge had been constructed across the Hudson at the new hamlet of Riverside (Riparius) and roads built to link that hamlet to Chestertown and Pottersville. In addition, a coach line had been inaugurated to bring passengers from Riverside to both locations. By the time passenger rail service reached Riverside, the “new and elegant steamer Effingham,” had joined the Libbie S. Benedict in carrying passengers on Schroon Lake. Newspapers at the time reported that a trip on this new route from Saratoga to Schroon Lake via rail to Riverside, coach to Pottersville and steamer to the head of the lake now took five to six hours – a fraction of the time that the trip had taken just a few years before.

The set of baggage tags displayed in the Town of Chester Museum of Local History, embossed with the words “Saratoga to Schro’n Lake, Adirondack Cos RR & Schroon Lake Stages and Strs,” is a small artifact of the monumental revolution in travel in the early 1870s that opened the lower Adirondacks to large scale vacation travel for the first time. This is just one of hundreds of items on exhibit in our museum, which is open on Wednesdays and Saturday mornings. Come poke around in Chester’s attic!

Detail of Seneca Ray Stoddard stereograph card from the New York Public Library public domain collection, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/

08/25/2026

Anyone remember eating here?

08/24/2026

The super highway to the North Country was once made of wood!

Before I-87, before Rt. 9 and even before the railroad line to Riverside Station, the fastest way to reach the Town of Chester was over a “plank road.” In the late 1840s and early 50s, “plank road mania” swept New York State. The Legislature awarded franchises to dozens of companies to construct (and collect tolls) over 2,000 miles of plank roads. As their name implies, plank roads were built with wooden planks (generally hemlock) laid perpendicular to the direction of travel. The craze spread to the North Country, and, in 1850, the Warrensburgh & Chester Plank Road was constructed (using planks 7 feet long and 2½ inches thick), part of a series of plank roads that ran north from Glens Falls, roughly in the path of modern Route 9.

A team of horses could travel more rapidly and draw a much greater load over a well-maintained plank road than over a dirt “common road.” The Plank Road thus provided a greatly-improved method of moving freight and passengers into and out of northern Warren County that aided the well-established lumber industry, the important new tannery industry (moving hides in and finished leather out) and the nascent tourist industry. With the plank road, Chestertown was much more connected to the rest of the State.

The state-wide enthusiasm for plank roads faded quickly. Wood planks were found to deteriorate more rapidly than originally projected, making upkeep expensive. An estimated forty percent of the miles constructed in the State were abandoned within ten years. The Warrensburgh & Chester Plank Road Company, on the other hand, survived. An 1860 traveler to the “beautiful and picturesque village” of Chestertown noted that the plank road was “as good as can be desired” and a group of sportsmen heading north in 1869 reported they traveled “at a good pace over the plank-road to Chester.” However, by the 1870s, parts of the road were macadamized (paved with crushed stone), rather than planked, and the word “Turnpike” was inserted into the company’s name to note the change. By the final decades of the century, complaints arose about the condition of the road and burden of the tolls. Nevertheless, the company continued until 1911 when Warren County purchased the company’s franchise, enabling the State to construct the highway that would later become part of Route 9 and help to bring the North Country into the age of the automobile.

Until eclipsed by the opening of railroad transport to Riverside Station in 1872, the Plank Road helped foster a fragile period of expansion in the local economy. Indeed, the population of Chester in 1870 (2,329) was the highest in the 19th Century and higher than the town would see again for the next hundred years.

The Plank Road sign is just one of hundreds of items on exhibit in the Town of Chester Museum of Local History. The museum is open on Wednesdays and Saturday mornings. Come poke around in Chester’s attic!

08/17/2026

Chester’s biggest movie star!

This summer’s exhibit on Scaroon Manor at the Town of Chester Museum of Local History includes a particular focus on photos and memorabilia relating to Marjorie Morningstar, the major motion picture filmed in part at the resort. This was a big event in the North Country in the late summer of 1957. Hollywood had decamped to the Town of Chester, bringing stars, supporting actors, producers, directors, technicians and a slew of journalists covering the excitement. Adding to the thrill of area sightings of well-known celebrities were the breathless stories of the whirlwind romance between starlet Natalie Wood (already famous for Rebel Without a Cause) and rising young hunk Robert Wagner, who had followed Natalie to Schroon Lake – catnip for the gossip writers. Best of all, some locals were cast as extras in the film and thus spent a brief interval in the reflected glow of glamour. However, there was one local who was much more than an extra in the film, but was a true supporting player – a cow owned by Art Tennyson, grandfather of our very own Local Museum Director, Ruby Tennyson.

The film centers on Marjorie Morgenstern (played by Natalie Wood), an immature drama student from a wealthy New York family, who takes a job at a summer camp and then foolishly falls in love with Noel Airman (played by Gene Kelly), the handsome, but shallow, musical director at the neighboring large resort, which (like Scaroon Manor) presents lavish professional musical productions to its summer guests. In a challenge to her Jewish identity, Noel anglicizes Marjorie’s last name to the more evocative “Morningstar.” Marjorie’s parents, correctly fearing the mischief that could befall a naïve young girl in such a romantic setting, dispatch to the resort her Uncle Samson (played by veteran comedian Ed Wynn) to keep a watchful eye over her. Amid the melodrama, there is an extended scene of comic relief where Uncle Samson performs a burlesque of a bullfight to the hearty amusement of the resort’s guests. During the filming at Scaroon Manor, noted Broadway columnist Dorothy Kilgallen received reports from the film’s supporting actors that this scene “is liable to steal the picture.” Indeed, Life later called this one of the best moments in the movie. Another reviewer called the scene “one of the special sparks of the picture.” No reviewer remarked on the performance of Ed Wynn’s co-star during this minute and a half of celluloid magic, but the scene would have been impossible without her.

How precisely this local cow came to be cast in such a key part in the film seems to be lost to history. However, Art Tennyson worked as the head electrician at Scaroon Manor from 1945 to 1962, and it was undoubtedly this connection that made the film’s producers aware of the talented cow at Art’s farm located on what is now known as Art Tennyson Road just south of Chestertown off Route 9 (technically within the municipal boundaries of Warrensburg, but socially and culturally part of Greater Chestertown). As far as is known, this was the cow’s only role in a major Hollywood production.

You can learn much more about Scaroon Manor and what it meant for both guests and local residents at the ongoing exhibit at the Museum. The museum is open on Wednesdays (10-2) and most Saturdays (9-1), Town of Chester Municipal Center, 6307 State Route 9, Chestertown, New York 12817.

08/15/2026

08/10/2026

In honor of their 50th Reunion:
1976 Senior Trip to Washington DC

08/04/2026

See us at the Farmers Market on Wednesdays to get your 2027 Calendar.
Great old photos of Chestertown & Pottersville and
Fun Facts you probably didn't know!

08/02/2026

Harvey & Mertie Harp of Landon Hill

07/09/2026

Come see us at the Farmers Market every Wednesday!

07/05/2026

1961 Seniors!