Rockwell Falls Presbyterian Church, 1882

Rockwell Falls Presbyterian Church, 1882
(photo 4/28/2011)

The core of this church located on Bridge Street in Lake Luzerne just steps away from the bridge that overlooks the confluence of the Hudson and Sacandaga Rivers is done in a High Victorian style.

The congregation dates to 1856, its first pastor Rev. Charles H. Skillman. The  church burned on December 21, 1926 and was rebuilt in 1927 with an addition in 1958.

This photograph taken on the day of highest flow in the Hudson River in living memory.

Pilgrim Holiness Church of Lake Placid, 1954

Pilgrim Holiness Church of Lake Placid, 1954

(photo 4/21/11)

Though a relatively new church this building is reminiscent of a number of older churches in the region with a local vernacular flavor.

Keene United Methodist Church

Keene United Methodist Church, 1836 (?)
(photo 4/21/11)

This building in the center of Keene is currently for sale. I have little information except for the following pasted from a Methodist Church website.

"Almost as old as the town itself, this congregation of 25 members is active in local mission and service work. Especially at Christmas, they assist poor families in town, and are supporters of the Food Pantry. Their August fair helps support the church. They work closely with other churches in town.

They welcome all people to join them. You should stop by for a moment of quiet reflection in one of Keene's oldest buildings."

The church has a nice steel tile roof which I have long admired. Apparently the congregation was too small to sustain the church.

Keene Valley Congregational Church 1875

Keene Valley Congregational Church

(photo 4/21/11)

My visit caught these men preparing the sound system for Easter Services. "how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" 

Adirondack Churches (p 183) has before and after photos of a 1927 renovation of the original 1875 vernacular building to the colonial revival appearance complete with clock today, by architect Frederick J. Woodbridge

St Brendan's Catholic Church, Keene

St Brendan's Catholic Church, 1882  Keene
(photo 4/21/11)

This solid, square attractive building on Church St. is probably seen more from the back by travelers between the Northway and Lake Placid. On the web I find a date of 1868 for the founding of the congregation and the church was built by Father John Fitzgerald in 1883, though I thought the date above the door said 1882. I like the fretwork design of quatrefoils and crosses at the gable vergeboard.

Keene Valley Library

Keene Valley Library, 1896
(photo 4/21/11)

The library once loaned me a wire coat-hanger to tie up a sagging muffler on my 1984 Saab 900.
Unable to return it in good condition I later donated $20 to the library.

The fish-scale shingled library was built in 1896 with numerous renovations and additions through the years. The library website has more:

www.kvvi.net/~library/information.htm

First Baptist Church, Bolton Landing

First Baptist Church, Bolton Landing 1806
(photo 10/1/10)

The sign gives a date of 1806 for this congregation and it seems possible that the core of this building could date that far back. There have surely been many changes in Bolton since then.

Lake Placid Baptist Church

Lake Placid Baptist Church
(photo 3/31/11)

You can tell this is a church and not a strip mall by the cross above the entry.  Looks like they have satellite cable! Free wifi?

By the look of it I would guess this was built in the 1990's, give or take. I guess newer churches are not about uplifting architecture, but about the mission.

Lake Placid Synagogue

Lake Placid Synagogue
(photo 3/31/11)


Lake Placid Synagogue lays claim to the title of only active year-round synagogue in the Adk Park. with the only other being the Beth Joseph Synagogue in Tupper Lake (now a National Historic Monument), but also at one time a Jewish Community Center in Saranac Lake which ceased to exist in the 1970's
The synagogue's website gives July 18, 1903 as the date for this congregation's first synagogue on Mill St., but the congregation dates back to 1879 in Franklin Falls.

The current building on Saranac Ave. was built with a donation from the estate of Adolph Leon, (date?)


http://www.lakeplacidsynagogue.org/history.html

St. Agnes Catholic Church

St. Agnes Catholic Church, Lake Placid
(photo 3/31/11)

I have little information on this church except that it was the home parish for Kate Smith who is apparently buried in the St Agnes cemetery. Also, Adirondack Churches relays a story about $50 bills in the collection plate in Julys and Augusts long ago -- the difference between summer and year-round parishioners, or for that matter churches with a tourist contingent at all.