19th century Hague — Open water ends distance skate

They did not make it to Ticonderoga.

“Charles Van Antwerp and Walter Brayton, who started to skate to Ticonderoga Wednesday, met with open water near Hague and were obliged to turn around,” the Brayton correspondent reported in The Morning Star of Glens Falls on Feb. 2, 1895.

In other 19th century Hague news collected from historic newspapers of the region:

• “There will be a rousing Hayes and Wheeler (presidential campaign) meeting at Phoenix Hall, Hague, tomorrow evening. Also, a good torchlight process by the Continental Guards,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on Oct. 20, 1876. “The meeting will be addressed by John Fenton, Esq., and other gentlemen.”
• “Six new summer cottages are to be built at Hague for next summer,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 21, 1894. “Hague is rapidly developing as a summer resort. The cottages are multiplying each season. Among those who are building summer homes are Colonel Mann of New York and S. H. Payne. Two cottages are going up near the Island Harbor House and H.S. Watrous is putting an addition on his dwelling.”

Mann and Watrous would later become associated with the legendary Lake George Monster hoax.

• “Ed Braisted is building two cottages for Mrs. Crabbet this winter, and expects to build another in the spring,” the Hague correspondent reported in The Morning Star on Nov. 24, 1894.
• “George Tupper, the veteran fox hunter, has caught over twenty-five foxes so far this fall,” the Hague correspondent reported in The Morning Star on Nov. 24, 1894.
• “Lake George is open for some distance opposite Jenkins’ Point,” the Hague correspondent reported in The Morning Star on Jan. 26, 1895. “Bernard Clifton is filling his icehouse.”
• “Another boy comes to gladden the home of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rising Sunday morning,” the Hague correspondent reported in The Morning Star on Feb. 9, 1895. “Clemmens, Wheeler & Miller are drawing hay from Vermont.”
• The cold of winter was upon the town.

“Mercury stood from fourteen to twenty-two degrees below zero Wednesday morning,” the Hague correspondent reported.

• “The dance at Clifton’s last night was attended by eighteen couples. An enjoyable time was had,” the Hague correspondent reported in The Morning Star on Feb. 16, 1895.
• “Elder Jenkins of Chazy has been engaged by the Wesleyan Methodist Society for the coming year,” the Hague correspondent reported in The Morning Star on Feb. 23, 1895.
• “Jessie Sexton is getting stone ready for the foundation for a house,” the Hague correspondent reported in The Morning Star on March 9, 1895. “John Roberts and ‘Doc’ Chappel have moved on to the McGowan place.”
• “An enjoyable time is reported at the ice cream festival last night at the residence of Willis Miller,” the Hague correspondent reported in The Morning Star on March 25, 1895.
• “John Wheeler’s summer boarding house has been filled to overflowing this summer,” the Hague correspondent reported in the Ticonderoga Sentinel on Aug. 31, 1877. ”Excursion parties visiting this place will do well to call on the popular landlord J. W. Rising. He will do the square thing by all. It is just the place to get a good square meal.”

Click here to read the most recent previous 19th century Hague post.