Press Room

Adirondack Museum — Just the Facts

  • The Adirondack Museum is a not-for-profit regional museum of history and art that first opened to the public in 1957.
  • The museum is located in the heart of the Adirondacks on Route 28N and 30 at Blue Mountain Lake, New York.
  • Open daily 10am to 5pm May 23 through October 19, 2008. Closed September 5, 2008 in preparation for the annual Rustic Furniture Fair and September 19, 2008 in preparation for the Antique Show.
  • Rates: Adults, $16; Children age 6-12, $8; Children under five free. All admissions are valid for a second visit within a one-week period.
  • Year-round residents of the Adirondack Park are welcomed free of charge from May 23 through June 30, 2008, and on "open" days in October.
  • Three to four hours should be allowed for a visit.
  • The museum offers 22 indoor and outdoor exhibit spaces on a 32-acre campus.
  • The Adirondack Museum offers a variety of special events, demonstrations, hands-on discovery stations, and lively activities for all ages.

Services

  • Fresh soups, salads, sandwiches, hot entrees, desserts, fountain drinks, beer and wine can be enjoyed while overlooking Blue Mountain Lake in the Lake View Café. Daily specials provide a taste of the season.
  • The museum has three areas that can accommodate group picnics. Individual picnic tables and trash receptacles are scattered throughout the scenic grounds.
  • The Adirondack Museum makes every effort to ensure that all visitors have a satisfying visit. Wheelchairs, strollers, hearing assist devices (Auditorium only), and transcripts are available.
  • The Museum Store offers a complete line of Adirondack-inspired crafts, books, clothing, jewelry, prints and more.
  • The films America's Castles: Adirondack Camps and Seneca Ray Stoddard: An American Original will be shown daily in the auditorium.

Collections

  • The Adirondack Museum is located on the former site of the Blue Mountain House, a summer resort hotel that operated from the 1800s through the late 1940s. Built in 1876, the Log Hotel is original to the museum's site and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
  • The museum has moved many large-scale objects to the grounds including a Pullman railroad car, boats, a locomotive, a one-room schoolhouse, Sunset Cottage — a prime example of rustic architecture — and the mountaintop beneath the Whiteface Mountain Fire Tower.
  • The museum has a complete blacksmith shop, once owned and operated by an Adirondack family.
  • The museum's fine art collection contains over 2500 works including oil and watercolor paintings, prints, and artists' sketchbooks.
  • The museum has the second largest collection of inland wooden watercraft in the United States.
  • The historic photograph collection includes more than 70,000 items, including photos by Seneca Ray Stoddard, Alfred Steiglitz, Eliot Porter and others.
  • The largest public collection of rustic furniture in North America is housed at the Adirondack Museum.
  • The Adirondack Museum library is the most comprehensive repository of books, periodicals, manuscripts, maps and government documents related to the Adirondack region.

Education

The museum's Education Department serves teachers and students in small rural schools throughout the region. Offerings include exhibit-based classes, field trip opportunities, outreach programs in classrooms within one hundred miles of the museum, and the Adirondack History Network (www.adirondackhistory.org). The museum sees approximately 5,000 students each year. In addition, the Education Department offers workshops, field trips, a lecture series, demonstrations of traditional crafts and conferences for adults, families, and children.

Publications

The museum's publications program has released 65 books including Adirondack histories, art histories, and exhibit catalogs.

Membership

The Adirondack Museum has an active membership program, with approximately 4,000 members.

Staff

The Adirondack Museum has 36 year round staff, and fills approximately 50 seasonal positions.

Information and Photo Requests

For additional information about the Adirondack Museum, to arrange interviews, or to request photographs, please call (518) 352-7311, ext. 109.