White Mountain art refers to the 19th century body of work by over four hundred artists who painted landscapes of New Hampshire's White Mountains. One of the early artists to paint the area, and the artist widely known as the founder of the Hudson River School, was Thomas Cole, whose painting A View of the Mountain Pass Called the Notch of the White Mountains (top) is considered one of the most famous of the early era of White Mountain art. But it was Benjamin Champney (Moat Mountain From North Conway, bottom) who eventually defined the "White Mountain School" of painting. Champney, a New Hampshire native, moved to North Conway in 1858 and spent the rest of his life painting the area. He was influenced by the Hudson River School style, but eventually developed a unique style of his own that attracted artists to North Conway from all over the country.For more information and loads more paintings, visit WhiteMountainArt.com
NPS Gives $873K For Trails
The National Park Service's "Connect Trails To Park" grants have been awarded for 17 projects this year. The grants total $873,000, and are being given to places where national historic and scenic trails intersect with national parks and other Federal facilities. The full list of recipients can be found here, but it includes:Rocky Mountain National Park, Continental Divide National Scenic Trail: $59,750 to build a new kiosk, pavilion, and entrance sign for the trail at Grand Lake.Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Stanwix National Memorial, Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park: $30,485 to construct North Country National Scenic Trail waysides at Grand Marais, Michigan; Rome, New York, and; Dayton, OhioRidgefield National Wildlife Refuge: $35,000 to provide for Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail interpretive programming at the Cathlapotle Plankhouse in Ridgefield, Washington.Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail: $45,205 to develop an "Explore the Outdoors, Your Life Depends on It" education program in Great Falls, Montana.The grant program was established in 2008 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 52,000 mile National Trails System. The Trails System dates from 1968 legislation that created the Appalachian and Pacific Crest National Scenic Trails. Today, the National Trails System is comprised of 11 national scenic trails (NSTs), 19 national historic trails (NHTs), and more than 1,050 national recreation trails (NRTs). (via Daily Dirt)MP3: Jack Rose - Revolt
Constitution Marsh
Since 1970, Audobon has managed the Constitution Marsh, a 270 acre tidal marsh (a type of marsh found along coasts and estuaries of which the flooding characteristics are determined by the tidal movement of the adjacent estuary, sea or ocean) on the east shore of the Hudson, just south of Cold Spring, NY. (thx)
100 Days In Glacier
In 2001, a friend of mine and his father set out on a camping trip in Glacier National Park. It was a 14 mile hike from the trailhead to the campsite, and along the way, they met some doctors that were on the same journey. My friend sped up towards the end of the hike to see where they'd be sleeping, and while he was ahead, his father had a heart attack. The doctors found his father, did some life saving doctor things and had him airlifted out of the park to a hospital. There also happened to be a long distance runner already at the campsite who, the following morning after the helicopter came, ran down the 14 mile trail and the extra several miles to my friend's car, and drove it back to the trailhead to save time for the rest of the group. It's a hell of a story that I haven't been able to stop thinking about all weekend. My friend's father was at the party where the story was told and still keeps in touch and visits the doctors that saved his life. Great ending.The above picture is from Glacier Park Magazine's 100 Days In Glacier feature that celebrates the park's 100th birthday in 2010. More after the jump.
Mikael Kennedy
I've been emailing with Mikael Kennedy back and forth for the past several months, and although the two of us live less than a mile from one another, we have yet to meet. Busy lives I suppose, although Mikael's involves a bit more traveling, something that I've been trying hard to keep up with.Peter Hay Halpert has posted a large online gallery of Mikael's polaroids for your viewing pleasure, so go on over and be sure to take a look. No word on the show dates, but let's hope it's up sometime at the beginning of the new year, so the two of us can finally say hello.
In Search Of L.L. Bean
I found this book at the thrift store the other day and there's little information about it on the Internets. I haven't finished it yet, but most of what Mr. Montgomery has done thus far is set out to expose Leon Leonwood Bean for the lies in his biography, My Story. For example, L.L. claims that when he first made his Maine Hunting Shoes, he sent out a catalog for the shoes to a hunting license registration list from Augusta. The year he claims to have done this was several years before Maine required hunting licenses. Oh well.Mr. Montgomery is also hell bent on letting the public know (over and over) that people from Maine would never in a million years wear L.L. Bean clothing. Perhaps, back in 1984 when the book was written, L.L. Bean sent him a package with the wrong size shoes and he never got over it. I know it's a journalist's job to let the public know the truth, but it seems as though the author's hate for L.L. runs deep. Anyone else read this book? Am I crazy for thinking that? I have never read L.L. Bean: The Making of an American Icon, so maybe some of the issues brought up in this book have already been addressed.From In Search Of L.L. Bean, here's an excerpt from an issue of the Saturday Evening Post, December, 1946. This was included to show how dry L.L.'s humor was:
During the war, a general leaving the Pentagon Building found himself sharing a taxicab to downtown Washington with a civilian. In the casual taxicab conversation that developed, the civilian named his home town as Freeport, Maine. The general's interest brightened at once."Freeport?" he said. "That's L.L. Bean's town.""Ay-yah," the man from Maine agreed. "'Tis.""There's a man I'd sure like to meet," said the general. "L.L. Bean. I discovered him four or five years ago, and I've been buying from him ever since. By George, it's wonderful the way the man figures out just what you need for hunting and fishing. You hunt or fish?""Ay-yah," said the Freeporter, "do a lot of it. Always use Bean's things too. Now, you take Bean's duck-hunting coat --"The conversation had hit high gear, and continued, an exchange of hunting and fishing experiences, well interlarded with tributes to the equipment and clothing sold by the mail-order house of L.L. Bean, all the way to the hotel where the civilian was getting out. As he stepped from the cab, he extended his hand. "Pleased to meet you, general," he said. "My name's L.L. Bean."
Documerica: David Hiser
On December 2, 1971, its first anniversary, the EPA inititated Project Documerica to document the successes and failures of the EPA in battling environmental degradation. “EPA has a clear mandate to arrest pollution and to help improve the American environment,” said William D. Ruckelshaus, head of the EPA, in a 1971 press release. “We are working toward a new environmental ethic in this decade which will bring profound change in how we live, and in how we provide for future generations. It is important that we document that change so future generations will understand our successes and our failures.” (via)The pictures above are David Hiser's contribution to Documerica, a series of photos of America's southwest desert. See more after the jump.
