THE NORTH COUNTRY
In his landmark book TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF. . .NORTH AMERICA, author, draughtsman, and British Royal Governor Thomas Pownall (1722-1805) identified the Adirondack region as Couxsachrage or “uninhabitable place of winter,” as described to him by the indigenous Kanienʼkehá꞉ka (Mohawk) tribe, of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. The region had been penetrated by Europeans prior to the publication of Pownall’s book in 1776, but settled only by military installations and a few trading-posts. In 1609 an Abenaki war-party had routed their Mohawk enemies with mortal firepower, delivered from the arquebus of Sieur Samuel de Champlain. French fortifications built at the head of Lake Champlain were captured by the British in 1759. Acquisitive entrepreneurs from Connecticut and other parts of New England migrated into the Hampshire Grants (Vermont) and the Champlain Valley, which from 1775-1777 was hotly contested by Crown Forces, at war with American patriots fighting for independence. During the 19th century the Adirondacks became a magnet for gentleman-sportsmen and artists alike. Great camps were built in the wilderness to provide vacationers all the comforts of their social privilege. When unbridled logging and other extractive industries threatened the viability of commercial waterways, lands were set aside to remain forever wild. Established in 1892, the Adirondack Park encompassed 6.1 million acres of public and private land.
Map of the Adirondack Wilderness by Seneca Ray Stoddard
Following in the footsteps of Governor Pownall, Verplanck Colvin, Winslow Homer and Seneca Ray Stoddard, James Lancel McElhinney now brings his travel-journaling practice to the North Country, exploring the region he now calls home. As new books and exhibitions are in development, McElhinney’s artifacts of travel are bing unpacked as individual prints. Sheet size: 11 x 14 inches. Image size: 4 x 10 inches. Each is published in a limited edition of 200. Orders are filled on demand. Each print is signed, dates and numbered. Each is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed and numbered by the artist. For information email editions@needlewatcher.com, or write to Needlewatcher Editions. P.O. Box 233, Essex, New York. 12936.
NC1_Camel’s Hump Mountain from Westport, New York. Sheet size 11 x 14 inches. Price: $195.00. Order HERE
NC_2. Ticonderoga from Mount Defiance. Price: $195.00
NC_3. Falls of the La Chute. Price $195.00
NC_4. Lincoln Pond. Price $195.00
NC_5. Mouth of the Sacandaga. Price $195.00
NC_6. Ausable Point. Price $195.00