HIGHLIGHTING HISTORY
Great Sacandaga Lake Advisory Council unveils 15 historic markers
SACANDAGA LAKE, N.Y. » Atotal of 15 new historic markers will soon be erected as part of an ongoing initiative to highlight the history of the Great Sacandaga Lake.
The Great Sacandaga Lake Advisory Council unveiled the 15 markers at a press conference on Thursday at the Hudson River Black River Regulating District Field Office in Mayfield, one of the several municipalities where the signs are slated to be installed.
Saratoga County, where Sacandaga Lake’s northeastern section lies in the towns of Edinburg and Day, will be home to about one-third of the new markers, including one at the Conklingville Dam.
This dam was built in 1930 to form what was then knownas the Sacandaga Reservoir, and is now referred to as the Great Sacandaga Lake.
Many of the markers tell about former sites that were flooded during the lake’s creation.
Now 90 years later, the community is making sure these sites are remembered by future generations, through projects such as the historic markers.
This newly finished project, meant to preserve the past by marking places of historical significance around the lake’s shores, was originally proposed by Saratoga County Historian Lauren Roberts.
Roberts was also involved in the creation of the 2017 documentary “Harnessing Nature: Building the Great Sacandaga,” another Great Sacandaga Lake Advisory Council project.
In her time spent on the documentary, Roberts identified a need for historic interpretation. “There was a hunger to know what this place was before the reservoir came to be, and why, and how,” she shared.
While working on the film, someone pointed out the lake’s lack of public signage and historic markers acknowledging what existed there before the flooding, including places that were really important to the area prior to 1930.
“It seemed obvious to me that these markers should be placed so that people knew where the locations were that we were talking about in the film,” Roberts said.
Instead of individual historic markers, the council requested a more comprehensive project.
After two years of work by Roberts, along with a handful of other historians and project participants, there are 15 blue and yellow markers about to be installed all around the lake.
The final step of this marker project comes at a unique time when local residents are spending more time outdoors. Roberts said, “It’s encouraging to me that at a time when many museums are closed, and indoor activities are being canceled left and right, having these historic markers erected in outdoor public places allows people to find them, read them, and gain some understanding about what happened here 90 years ago, and why we are able to enjoy this beautiful lake here today.”
The marker project is funded by the Great Sacandaga Lake Advisory Council, which chairman Henry Hughes explained was established in 2000 as part of a settlement agreement between the power company and constituent bodies around the lake.
At that time, the company agreed to make a yearly monetary contribution to a fund and subsequently charged the council with soliciting and funding selected proposals from area individuals and groups for the improvement of the Sacandaga Valley.
“These markers are a continuation of the council’s efforts to highlight the significant development previous to and following the construction of the Sacandaga Reservoir, later known as Great Sacandaga Lake,” Hughes said.
“This project is really helping to uncover the rich history of this area - the places, the people and the stories that comprised this region long before the Conklingville Dam was built and the Great Sacandaga Lake created,” Hudson River Black River Regulating District executive director John Callaghan said.
This recent effort by the council follows the success of “Harnessing Nature: Building the Great Sacandaga,” which brought renewed public interest to the history of the Sacandaga Reservoir project.
Council treasurer Jason Kemper, who is also Saratoga County’s director of planning, gave an update about the documentary’s reception over the past three years.
“One of the driving forces behind my interest in doing the filmproject was that I believed there was a lack of understanding by my generation and those that will follow, on the true sacrifices that were made by those in the valley,” he said. “I wanted to make sure there was something that would clearly portray the monumental construction of the reservoir, and the flooding of this valley.”
Today, Kemper believes the council has accomplished that goal. “I think it’s safe to say there’s a renewed interest from this generation and those that will follow on the incredible history of this valley,” he said.
On the celebratory occasion of the next Sacandaga history project’s completion, Kemper said, “Hopefully, this marker project will renew even more interest in the history of the lake.”
Following their debut on Thursday, the signs are currently being distributed to the various local municipalities for installation in the coming weeks. Then, they will be permanently displayed for the public to learn about the history of the Great Sacandaga Lake.
More information about “Harnessing Nature: Building the Great Sacandaga” is available online at https:// www.cdtdigital.com/sacandaga/index.php.