I’m ashamed to say that until recently, I hadn’t. Me, the “expert outdoorsman” didn’t know and had never heard of this man. I should hang up my pen and never write about the Adirondacks again. Or, maybe I should write more about this man to pay my respects and attempt to make up for not knowing of his accomplishments and contributions to the enrichment of my life and so many of the people I know.

You see, for those of you who are as unaware as I was, Verplanck Colvin is the person who first gave us the idea of the Adirondack Park and New York State Forest Preserve. Oh! I know there are lots of others who would like to claim that honor, and there are certainly lots of others who deserve credit for the existence of the six million acre wonderland at our door steps. 

Look at it this way. Who gets most of the credit for a bottle of good wine?  Is it the wine maker or the man who first plants the very first seed from which the very first vine emerged? Granted, you can’t have a fine bottle of wine without the often secret recipe. But without the fruit there is no juice and without a vine there is no fruit and without the first seed being placed in the ground…..well, you get my drift.

Verplanck Colvin, when it comes to the existence of the Adirondack Park, is the farmer who planted the very first seed and who nurtured the vine to bear fruit. He is the man who fought for the creation and then carried out the surveying of the North Country. He is the man who created the maps and the landmarks that we still, to this day, use to navigate the vast expanses we take so much for granted when we comfortably drive north in our shiny automobiles and pick-up trucks.

Recently I reported to you about a book I read about Clarence Petty. He too deserves a great deal of credit for what we today call the Adirondack Park. But he was sort of like the wine maker in my little analogy. He picked up the gauntlet and ran with it. 

The primary difference between these two men who chronologically overlapped one another in the history of the Park is that Petty sort of took the quarterback’s “pitch out” and ran downfield with the ball. Colvin was the coach who derived the play for the quarterback. Petty is a preservationist, meaning that he wants to preserve the land just the way it was on “the first day.”

Colvin showed all of us where the land was, he led us to the wilderness that all who followed either wanted to use indiscriminately, exploit or commercially develop and destroy. 

The second book I would highly recommend to all who love our mountains and want to learn about the inception and history of their existence as a Park is titled “Footsteps Through The Adirondacks – The Verplanck Colvin Story” by Nina H. Webb. It is available on the shelf or by order from the major book stores. It is fantastic reading and I want to thank Pat McGinn for leading me to it. Pat uses this book as a teaching aid for his classes at Warrensburg High School to interest his students in our local history.

Reading the book will enlighten you on the history of the Park and it will provide you with an insight to the strength and character of Verplanck Colvin and the men of his time. Born in 1847, he came to lead the team of men who surveyed the mountains employing the triangulation method without the use of compasses. He invented new equipment and devices as his task demanded all the while being treated terribly by the State government that authorized the task in the first place.

He literally dedicated his life to the survey existing in the most primitive conditions, summer and winter, black flies and blizzards, while going unpaid by the State for years at a time often supporting the effort and paying his men out of his own pocket.

This book is a story of courage, perseverance and accomplishment that I can only dream of but, in reality, know I could never duplicate even in my most delusional moments. Read this book and you will, like me, wish you had the opportunity to meet the man. See you outdoors!

You can reach Dick at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it