"Woodswoman" Anne LaBastille has died

Several years ago when I flew home to my parents in NY state for Christmas I was looking over some of my grandmother's old books.  She had passed away the previous year.  One of the books jumped out at me, Woodswoman by Anne LaBastille.  While I wouldn't consider myself an environmentalist-- even within the loosest definition of the word-- there was something about the book that really spoke to me.  It might have been her self-imposed isolation.  Or perhaps it was that she was an Adirondack guide just as my great grandfather-- Watson Merrill, his brother Charles, and their father before them-- Darius had all been.  And on my mom's side-- my grandparents had lived within the wilderness of the Adirondack Park and my mother and her younger 2 sisters had been born there (not to mention I was born at a hospital located within the boundaries of the park as well).  At any rate Ms. LaBastille helped me better understand and appreciate my recent ancestors and their ties to and love of the beautiful Adirondack Mountains.

So I read Woodswoman and a few years later I even got around to reading the sequels (II, III, & IIII.  Shouldn't that have been "IV"- I digress).  I was sad to learn, shortly after completing the series that Ms. LaBastille had been forced to forfeit her lifestyle with the onset of Alzheimer's.  And today when reading the online edition of The Plattsburgh Press-Republican I learned that Ms. LaBastille had succumbed at age 75.

I was a bit annoyed by the write-up as it described a Woodswoman as being a "fictionalized account" of Ms. LaBastille's life @ "Black Bear Lake."  The only thing she "fictionalized" was the name of the lake that her camp was on and that was only done to preserve and protect the location of her camp and prevent unwanted visitors and/or interlopers.  She valued her privacy and that's something I understand and respect.  Ms. LaBastille will be missed and I only hope that her camp has ended up in kind and capable hands that will value and treasure the camp and Ms. LaBastille's contributions to the Adirondack Park with the respect they truly deserve.

It's in the blood

I recently started reading Anne LaBastille's Woodswoman IIII. I'd already read and thoroughly enjoyed her Woodswoman and Woodswoman II books a few years ago. So I requested the 3rd and 4th books from the library. As luck would have it the 4th book became available before the third so I'm reading them a bit out of sequence.

All 4 of these books are memoirs. The first 3 cover approximately 10 years each and the last book covers 5 years of Ms. LaBastille's life. The life she has led following her divorce from her first and only husband back in the seventies has been largely a solitary one. She built a small cabin on Black Bear Lake* in the Adirondacks (*a pseudonym to prevent people from finding her actual camp). Her primary company over the years has been a series of German Shepherds.

I do highly recommend the Woodswoman series of books to my female readers. It's not that men won't get something out of her writing as well. I just believe that Ms. LaBastille is quite an inspiration and positive role model for women. I hope to someday introduce these books to my own daughter (once she's old enough to appreciate them).

You may be asking, what drew me to these books or what piqued my interest. Two things-- local interest-- I was literally born in the Adirondack Mountains and raised in a small town just outside the Adirondack State Park. My mother was raised in the Adirondacks. Her father was an avid hunter and fisherman. One of my great grandfathers and great great grandfathers on my father's side were Adirondack guides in the late 19th and early 20th century. My great-great grandfather, Darius Merrill (pictured below), owned a small hotel, The Merrill House on Upper Chateaugay Lake. Darius died from exposure/hypothermia at age 57 in 1887 after his dog sled went through the ice.

My great grandfather, Watson (pictured below) along with his brothers Charles and Shep took over the Merrill House after their father's passing.One of my older cousins who knew my grandmother better than I, told me the tale as it had been told to her by our grandmother that Watson died of a broken heart. My great-grandmother, Frankie Davis Merrill died in 1918. Watson, not being able to live without the love of his life died a few months later. My grandmother was only about 15 at the time and was raised into adulthood by her older sister, Sadie, before she met and married my grandfather in 1924.

At any rate, while I know the life of a female Adirondack guide in the late 20th century was likely considerably different from that of the male guides of the late 19th and early 20th century Ms. LaBastille did befriend some of the older guides-- men in their 80s and 90s who were raised by guides themselves and shared with her the tales of a different era. Thus her books give me at least a glimpse of the lives of some of my ancestors.

But the book I long to read-- originally published in serial form in many Adirondack newspapers in the twenties and thirties, The Old Guide's Story written by my great great uncle Charles Merrill (my great grandfather's brother) those serials were compiled in book form in 1973 or 74 but that printing of The Old Guide's Story remained largely out of print (and thus quite expensive when able to find a copy) for over 30 years when a local history buff decided to re-publish the book. My parents & I actually helped him by contributing some family photos to him that had been left to us by my late grandmother.

My parents have copies of both the 1974 and 2006 printings. For some reason I never got around to reading the book in my 18+ years living under the same roof as my parents that is something I regret and hope to rectify soon.

Photos

I was going through some of my old photos and found this. It was taken with a Kodak (I forget which model) 3.2MP camera. My wife & I went to Door County, WI over Memorial Day Weekend in 2006. This was one of a handful of pictures we took on that trip.

On the same trip we decided to take in a sunset on the Green Bay side of Door County.

Over Thanksgiving 2006 my wife & I went to Virginia to celebrate the holiday with one of my brothers, and his family. My sister in South Carolina drove up to join us and my parents drove down from upstate NY to join us. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we decided to check out Monticello as it was just over an hour away. This photo was taken from the grounds. I thought it offered a spectacular view. This photo was also taken with the Kodak 3.2MP camera.
For our honeymoon my wife & I went on a 7 day Caribbean Cruise. This photo was taken in Philipsburg, St. Maarten (again with the Kodak 3.2MP camera)
In May 2008 my wife & I went on vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Our first night there we ate outdoors and watched the sun setting on the Bay of Banderas. This picture was taken with a Nikon CoolPix 4 (4MP).

In the summer of 2007, my wife & I headed east for a week of camping in the Adirondacks with all of my siblings, nieces, nephews, and even one of my aunts. We shared a waterfront site with my parents. We took several sunset photos but I thought this one turned out the best. I grew up about 25-30 miles north of this particular campground. This photo does make me miss the scenery where I grew up.

This was taken from the summit of Debar Mountain. On the same trip, my wife climbed her first mountain. While this was also the first mountain I had ever climbed, it was the third time I'd climbed it (the first time being in 1987). It's a 9 mile hike round trip. I loved not only the view but the serenity and peacefulness on the summit. Incidentally, the lake in the photograph is the same one I took the sunset photo from.

This was taken by my wife when we were canoeing on Meacham Lake. That mountain behind the lake is Debar... the same one that the previous photo of the lake was taken from.