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    Sand Lake
    Sand Lake
    Sand Lake
    Ebook197 pages57 minutes

    Sand Lake

    By Mary D. French, Robert J. Lilly and Sand Lake Historical Society

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    Sand Lake Township lies just south of Troy and east of Albany. This community was a center of water-powered industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Dams on Crystal, Glass, and Burden Lakes provided waterpower for mills along the Wynantskill and finally for the largest waterwheel in North America at Burden Iron Works in Troy. When the railway arrived, the township with its seven lakes and numerous hotels blossomed into a tourist destination. In Sand Lake you will find Dr. Smith Boughton as Big Thunder in the Anti-Rent Wars of the mid-1800s, coded messages issued from church pulpits for transporting slaves via the Underground Railroad, Uline s Infallible Remedy cure-all, the Park Pharmacy soda fountain manned by teenager (later comedian) Jerry Lewis, and Gov. Theodore
    Roosevelt at Brown s Crooked Lake House.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateApr 12, 2001
    ISBN9781439627594
    Sand Lake
    Author

    Mary D. French

    Mary D. French, the coauthor of Sand Lake, and Andrew St. J. Mace, a senior librarian at New York State Library, have created this second book for the Sand Lake Historical Society. The two serve respectively as editor and publisher of the historical society�s newsletter. Filled with material they recently acquired, Sand Lake Revisited reveals the exciting and flourishing community that Sand Lake has been and continues to be.

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      Book preview

      Sand Lake - Mary D. French

      1876.

      INTRODUCTION

      Where was Sand Lake? Where is Sand Lake? Crystal Lake was previously named Sand Lake. Today, we refer to Sand Lake as the township within Rensselaer County, New York. It is about equidistant from Troy and Albany. Within the township there is also the hamlet of Sand Lake.

      Prior to 1791, it was part of Albany County, within the Manor of Rensselaerwyck, which extended east and west from the Hudson River. In 1791, it was declared part of Rensselaer County. By 1812, Sand Lake had been formed from the towns of Greenbush and Berlin. Present boundaries were finally established when sections were removed to Greenbush in 1843 and to the town of Poestenkill in 1848.

      For a detailed and in-depth account, Sylvester’s History of Rensselaer County relates Sand Lake’s earliest beginnings. Perhaps you missed the historical society’s house tour booklets, which are now out of print: Sand Lake History, begun by Madolyn Carpenter and Charles Viens in 1979, and Pictorial History of Ulinesville 1776 to West Sand Lake 1976, by Sanford Young and Charles Viens. Some of the pictures in those booklets are included in the chapters of this book. The very popular method of preserving photographs on postcards provided a multitude of images. The collections of Lawrence Herzog, Joseph Connors Jr., Alice Tifft, Ada and Wesley Miller, the town of Sand Lake, and the Sand Lake Historical Society, as well as individual offerings from a multitude of persons, were used extensively. Courtesy acknowledgment was given to the original source of the photograph whenever possible.

      From this generous outpouring of photographs, we have selected those images from the 19th and 20th centuries that capture the distinctiveness of the town’s hamlet areas. The first chapter begins at West Sand Lake—rich in farmland, gravel, and water-powered mills. Cedarhurst, Brookside Park, and the Brewster House were popular spots. In the next chapter, we travel eastward along the town’s main creek, the Wynantskill, to the Burden Lakes, formed by dams, with the water used for local woolen, grist, paper, and hosiery mills. Ultimately, that same water was used to power the largest waterwheel in North America at the Burden Iron Company in Troy. Nearby is Averill Park, a hub of activity, with the Troy & New England Railway terminal, a carousel ride at Crystal Lake Park, Scram’s Collegiate Institute, Traveler’s Rest, and the Lake View Hotel. Thence, we go to Sand, Glass, and Crooked Lakes, replete with vacation spots and hotels. For starters, we pick the Crooked Lake Hotel and pay a visit to Crist Crape’s Central Hotel. On a tour of the area, we visit the site of the Rensselaer Glass Factory, from which Glass Lake got its name. Then we head up to Taborton, with its mountains yielding much wood for sawmills and charcoal. The earliest wood lease on record was 1798. We climb to the Kipple, the town’s highest point. It is a clear day, and we can see a panoramic westward view of the Hudson Valley and Helderberg Mountains. Townwide organizations, government, and events are found in the last chapter.

      As their stories are recounted, the people and activities remembered bring each hamlet to life. Ulinesville, as West Sand Lake was formerly known, is still remembered by that name, especially when family members meet at their reunions. Faith Mills, the largest employer in town, contributed not only to the town’s growth and social life but also to its prestige when the mill and each of the employees received the E Award in 1943 for providing long woolen underwear for the war effort. Looking back, some persons can say, I was served ice cream by a soda jerk named Jerry Lewis.

      With the passage of time, the area changed. The many water-powered mills, so prevalent along the Wynantskill, became obsolete or ravaged by fire. The advent of the automobile brought freedom to travel to new places and to commute to work. Several of the hotels, no longer a mecca for tourists, either were razed or they burned. Summer camps were winterized for year-round use. Gradually, Sand Lake became a residential community, with most merchants in businesses for the maintenance of the local population.

      Throughout its history, Sand Lake has been an involved community.

      In 1844, at the height of the Anti-Rent War, Dr. Smith Boughton, known as Big Thunder, led a major resistance to the Van Rensselaer landlords on both sides of the Hudson River. In 1984, Big Thunder Day began at Smith Boughton’s grave in Sand Lake Union Cemetery. Local residents dressed in calico and Indian face masks, and by blowing tin horns they remembered the victorious resistance.

      During the Civil War period, there was much clandestine activity on the Underground Railroad. Church pulpits gave coded messages for the movement of slaves. The Lutheran Church in West Sand Lake split over the issue of slavery.

      In 1976, Sand Lake was recognized as an official Bicentennial Community. A highlight of the celebration was the reenactment of the Declaration of Independence, depicted by the men of the town in Colonial costumes.

      Much of this book comes from the legacy of the 20 years of work (1975–1995) by town historian Madolyn Carpenter. The present town historian, Judy Rowe, has been an invaluable source of encouragement, naming persons to contact and relating her seemingly limitless information on the town’s history. The cooperation and enthusiasm of the people within the town to share their treasures to make Sand Lake a reality was heartening and made the task enjoyable. Another diligent worker was Ross French, who did the rephotographing of the pictures loaned to us. We especially thank the Rensselaer County Historical Society, the New York State Museum, Capital Newspapers, and the Record for permission to include their pictures.

      As you read Sand Lake, coeditors Mary D. French and Robert J. Lilly invite you to enjoy the collective

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