The Adirondack Museum

New to the Adirondacks or just want a refresher course on the region's human and natural history? You should really plan on making a stop at the Adirondack Museum in the Town of Blue Mountain Lake. The museum is a splendid showcase of the history of the Adirondacks with information on just about everything Adirondack. For me, even though I've been visiting the region for years, I still find that the museum is a great way to spend several hours. Not only that, but you'll leave with a much stronger appreciation for the history of the mountains.

Getting There

The Adirondack Museum is located in the Town of Blue Mountain Lake along Routes 28N and 30 in the Adirondacks. The museum is located an hour or so north of Lake George and about an hour and a half south of Lake Placid. There is parking available at the museum on either side of the street. Parking is free and besides the busiest of holiday weekends, you shouldn't have trouble finding a place to park.

The Museum

The vast majority of the museum is only available if you purchase an admission. Without a ticket, you can only access the gift shop, along with a small exhibit all. However, when you have purchased an admission, the rest of the museum is open to you. There are a total of 21 'exhibits' in the museum as a whole. One neat thing about the Adirondack Museum is that it is not a single building, but instead the museum is a series of buildings and locations that make up the entire site. This means that it is best to visit with somewhat decent weather as parts of the exhibits are outside. The exhibit halls and areas include a number of "Adirondack" exhibits, from boating to the natural history of the region. There are exhibits on the Adirondack camps, railroads, schooling, outdoor recreation, logging and more. The museum does an excellent job at providing exhibits that practically cover the entire region without missing many points.

I think my favorite part of the entire museum is the fire tower. While I've been up plenty of fire towers with some amazing views, what I like about this one is that it gave you a view of the entire museum area and since you are on the shoulder of Blue Mountain, you have a wonderful view of Blue Mountain Lake and the region beyond. On our last visit, my partner and I also really liked the one-room schoolhouse, mostly because of the interpretive guide who was there. She walked us through just about everything in the schoolhouse and it was hard not to be excited about it considering how into and excited she was about the schoolhouse's history. I also thought it was neat that the vast majority of the buildings are original, either having been on the site or having been moved to the site. In the more traditional exhibit halls, you'll find original pieces including boats, buggies, and other artifacts.

On our most recent visit, the two of us spent about four hours walking around the museum and that included reading and going through just about everything. There were a few exhibits we skimmed by since neither of us had much interest in them, but overall we really enjoyed the museum. I had been there before, he had never been. Still, I found plenty of new things to learn about and I the entire time stayed interested in what I was seeing.

The Museum With Kids

I could see how a family with children might not be as enamored with the museum as we were, since there is not a lot to keep kids occupied. Some of the exhibits they will really like - where they can climb into and play with various things, but the vast majority of exhibits are generally historical objects or photographs with text explaining their significance. That's not something that will generally keep a kid's attention in my experience.

In the end

My only real complaint about the Adirondack Museum is the fact that so much of it focuses on the human history of the park and most of that history is since it was explored and settled by Americans. There's not much information on the Native American history of the park and I felt like the natural history of the park (which probably interests me more than anything else) was shortchanged. There was some information on the forests and the animals, but the geology of the park was reduced to a quick description. That's a shame because there is a lot of interesting information about the park in the natural sense. I personally would have loved to see more geologic information along with a more in-depth look at the region's ecology.

That said, I think that for anyone who is looking for a good introduction to the history of the exploration and settlement of the Adirondack Mountains, the Adirondack Museum is a good place to stop and visit.

There are so many different exhibits that illustrate the region's history and by the time you are finished, you'll have a much deeper understanding of what it took to have the Adirondack region that you see today.

The Adirondack Museum is a great way to spend several hours during your Adirondack vacation.