Why the Adirondacks?
After 40 years in Boston, why move to the Adirondacks? It's really because I have always lived at least a part of each year of my life since 1952 on Paradox Lake. For all intents and purposes it is home. Kathy and I have raised our children there on long weekends, vacations and summers. We will always be "flatlanders" here, but we are no longer "Summer People" and folks will fix things in our home, invite us to weddings and even tell us if our pants are on fire!
With the internet and telephone available, and Albany airport an hour or so away, it just made sense to "come home." It sometimes took me an hour to get to Logan in Boston! I'm sharing space with the only other lawyer in town and my 10 minute commute is not too hard to take. Neither is the view across Paradox Lake every morning! Montreal and my hockey clients are a two hour car ride. Many of my clients are actually closer to here.
For those of you who don't know it, the Adirondacks are a beautiful set of lakes and mountains between Albany and Montreal. They are bordered on the east by Lake Champlain and on the west by Lake Ontario. Six million acres, including Paradox and Schroon are in the largest state park south of Alaska. Created in 1894, fully one third of the land within the "Blue Line" is forever wild and cannot be developed. This includes the 46 peaks above 4000 feet including Mt. Marcy which is second only to Katahdin in the Appalachian Chain. You can hike or snowshoe for miles without seeing anyone and drink the water in the lake we live on.
The area is loaded with history as many of the major battlefields of the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 are in the Park. Fort Ticonderoga, Saratoga and Plattsburgh are a short drive away. Benedict Arnold started the American Navy in Whitehall. John Brown gathered his abolitionist forces outside Lake Placid. The glories of two Olympics have played out in Lake Placid and the heroes of the 10th Mountain are still based at Fort Drum. Those of you, who know what a history nut I am, now know where that got started.
In short it is a great place to live and work and stay in touch with clients from. I've come home to a new and exciting phase of my law career.
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