• Home
  • About
  • Browse
  • Get Involved
    • TB Stories
    • Saranac Lake in the Time of COVID
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Your Community. Your Museum.
    • Join the Project
  • Resources
  • Historic Saranac Lake
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
  • Home
  • About
  • Browse
  • Get Involved
    • TB Stories
    • Saranac Lake in the Time of COVID
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Your Community. Your Museum.
    • Join the Project
  • Resources
  • Historic Saranac Lake

FROM

THE PORCH

Letter from the Porch: Essential Workers in History

4/28/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
Dear Friends,

Saranac Lake’s tuberculosis economy depended on the labor of many essential workers. In honor of today’s heroes, here are a few favorite stories of brave helpers in local history.

Nurses and doctors risked their own health providing care and companionship to tuberculosis patients far from home. Our museum archive is full of hundreds of photos and stories of these courageous women and men. In her book, Wish I Might, Isabel Smith writes warmly about her doctor, Francis B. Trudeau. He is somewhat overshadowed in history by his famous father, founder of Saranac Lake’s TB industry, Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau. But Francis was widely respected for his kindness and his fierce dedication to his patients. Ms. Smith described his “inimitable hearty roar of good spirits which, then and always, enveloped me like a blaze of sunlight.”

Read More
1 Comment

Letter From the Porch: The great outdoors

4/21/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
Dear friends,

Many Saranac Lakers find themselves heading outside during these unsettling times. In the woods around us we find a sense of peace, a place where human worries and sickness feel far away. In fact, the natural environment of the Adirondacks is at the heart of our history as a center for tuberculosis treatment. The fresh air and beauty of the region was believed to restore both body and spirit alike, and thousands came here from around the world in search of the fresh air cure.

Read More
1 Comment

LEtter from the Porch: the Joy of Excersise

4/14/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
Dear friends,

The old neighborhoods of Saranac Lake are lively these days, as people of all ages take a break from solitude to go out walking at all hours. Like the TB patients of the past, we are eager to stretch our legs, breathe some fresh air, and wave to a friendly face across the street.

Read More
1 Comment

Letter from the Porch: Sense of Purpose

4/7/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Dear friends,

During the years Saranac Lake was a health resort, many TB patients filled their time by making arts and crafts. These activities furnished a crucial sense of purpose for people struggling with isolation and boredom.

Read More
0 Comments

Letter from the Porch: Gifts of Music

3/31/2020

0 Comments

 
Dear friends,

It has been a difficult week. Our hearts go out to friends and family coping with the coronavirus and to the brave medical professionals on the front lines of this crisis.

In an effort to fill up the silence of social distance, many of us are turning to the comfort of music. Some older Saranac Lakers can trace their love of music back to a kind lady who lived in a little brick house up on French Hill.
Picture

Read More
0 Comments

Letter from the Porch: Radio Contact

3/24/2020

1 Comment

 
PictureEd Worthington at the Trudeau Sanatorium with his ham radio. Courtesy of Jan Dudones.
Dear friends,

In the past week I have found such joy in the personal calls and emails shared with so many of you. Thank you for staying in touch. I hope this letter finds you all safe and well.

As a member of our email list, you understand that by paying attention to the lives of those who came before us, we enrich our own experience of the present. I am finding this particularly true right now. I would like to  share with you a weekly letter to help us connect with our history and with each other. As a shout-out to our fresh air history, I’m going to call these “letters from the porch.”


Read More
1 Comment

Letter from the Porch: Lessons in Resilience

3/16/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
Dear Friends,

Many years ago, Saranac Lake rallied to fight a deadly disease. Today’s news sure has us thinking about our local history.

Tuberculosis killed 1 in 7 people in the late 1800s. Highly contagious and with no known cure, fear and stigma surrounded TB. Unlike the new virus we face today, many of its victims were young people in their 20s. Like today, quarantine was often seen as an appropriate solution, and sometimes people were isolated against their will. A person’s ethnicity, race, and socioeconomic status affected the kinds of treatments available.

Read More
1 Comment

    From the Porch

    We're posting all the latest news, videos, and stories from Historic Saranac Lake's oral history project and Cure Porch on Wheels here. Stay tuned for Talking Points on Sunday, Live from the Porch on Tuesday and Saturdays, and other weekly offerings!

    Categories

    All
    Cure Porch On Wheels
    Letter From The Porch
    Live From The Porch!
    Oral History Project
    Story Saturday
    Talking Points
    Voices Of Saranac Lake

    Archives

    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020

    RSS Feed

Contact Us

89 Church Street Suite 2
Saranac Lake NY 12983
​mail@historicsaranaclake.org
518-891-4606
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Browse
  • Get Involved
    • TB Stories
    • Saranac Lake in the Time of COVID
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Your Community. Your Museum.
    • Join the Project
  • Resources
  • Historic Saranac Lake