SUMMER ADVENTURES IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, VERMONT AND NEW YORK: NELSON'S NOTES #50

Written in Westfield, New York, on Lake Erie
Aug. 27, 2005

BRUCE'S EARLIEST RECOLLECTION . . .

. . . is the rock in front of the house where he lived until he was three. When we were in Tamworth, New Hampshire, his keen memory and good directional instinct led us right to the house with the rock.

Bruce and the rock, 1935 and 2005

DIRT TRACK RACING AT BEAR RIDGE SPEEDWAY, BRADFORD, VT

Dirt track racing is noisy and dirty but also is wholesome family fun. Bruce was on the pit crew for car #54, an open-wheel red coupe made and raced by his 35-year-old nephew, Dale Leroux. To get in his car, Dale climbs through the window; he wears a flame-retardant red suit and special shoes that are small enough to fit between the sidewall and the drive shaft (his boots are too big).

Dale Leroux, race-car driver, Twin State Open-Wheel Coupe Class

LAKE WILLOUGHBY IN VERMONT'S NORTHEAST KINGDOM

As we head down the hill on 5A in Westmore toward Donna's house (Bruce's sister), majestic Lake Willoughby suddenly looms before us. The way the steep green mountains meet the lake's true blue waters takes my breath away. Imagine these mountains when the colors change next month.

BLACK LAKE, HAMMOND, NEW YORK

A sign cautioning drivers that they may be sharing the road with horse-drawn buggies, tells us that Amish people live nearby. During our stay, we saw four buggies on Black Lake Road.

Sunset from my cousins' camp on Jennie Island, Black Lake.
They have vacationed here for 11 years.

The 1.5 acre Jennie Island, which is owned and occupied by the Connelly's, is one of the few islands on Black Lake that's not covered with poison ivy. Mary Ellen and John like the peace and quiet of Black Lake, which is used 90% for fishing and only 10% for noisier boating. Mary Ellen says the shoreline around the lake is 75% undeveloped because a lot of it is not conducive to building and doesn't have a lot of road access.

An Unusual Toilet

One of the energy-saving, "green" features at the Connelly's camp is their indoor composting toilet. It sits high above the floor, like a throne. Within six months, human waste turns into a dishpan-size container of usable soil, which is light, fluffy and odorless, like potting soil. Mary Ellen spreads it on her outdoor plants.

BOLDT CASTLE, A FAMOUS LANDMARK IN THE THOUSAND ISLANDS

When we visited Boldt Castle in the late 1960s, these ornamental turrets didn't exist. Instead, the unfinished castle was crumbling and the walls were covered with the signatures and dates of tourists' visits. This summer, almost 40 years later, we visited Dolores and Ron Maeder at their home in Alexandria Bay, and they took us on a tour of Boldt Castle. For many years, the Maeder's have been watching the miraculous restoration of the castle and its adjacent buildings on Heart Island.

After the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority assumed ownership of the island in 1977, the ambitious rehabilitation program was started. The restoration still continues today with elaborate results that would satisfy even the original builder and owner, George C. Boldt.  Boldt, a successful hotel magnate, was rich but his story is sad. Upon the death of his beloved wife, Louisa, in 1904, Bold stopped all work on the castle, leaving only a partially finished tribute to his wife.

OLD RHEINBECK AERODROME, RHEINBECK, NEW YORK

On a steamy hot day, my cousin, Anne, went with us to the air show in Rheinbeck. The Aerodrome is just a fancy name for a field where pilots in antique aircraft, with names like the Great Lakes Speedster and the Tiger Moth, do loop-de-loops and stunts.

After the pilot in this plane tosses out a roll of toilet paper, he sees how many times he can fly through the streamers and cut them with the plane's propeller and wings.

When the World War I planes are in the air, a melodrama takes place on the ground. The Evil Black Baron of Rhinebeck tries to keep Trudy Truelove from marrying Sir Percy Goodfellow. The Baron, wearing goggles, a flowing black cape and a long white scarf, signals the WWI Albatross to drop a "bomb." During the bomb distraction, the Baron steals Trudy Truelove, who is dressed in her wedding gown, from Sir Percy. After much shooting and dramatic flying, Sir Percy wins back Trudy Truelove at the end of the show.

In the meantime, the announcer tells us that the pilot flying a 1909 single-wing monoplane, is looking down at the green grass of the field because the plane has no floorboard. Another old plane is powered by a rotary motor, meaning that the whole engine spins, not just the propellers. The announcer tells us that the engine is lubricated with castor oil and burns two gallons an hour. He explains that the extra castor oil is blown back into the pilot's face and that pilots wore long scarves to wipe the oil off their goggles.

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Webmaster, Bruce Nelson

Photos by Bruce Nelson (and one of his parents), Marianna Nelson, and another spectator at the air show

Text by Marianna Nelson