04.26 | some final facts about the adirondacks

✉️ letter #63

Yes, I'm aware that this is probably the third newsletter in the last month or so that has something to do with going to the Adirondacks to see the April 2024 eclipse. I'm sorry! I made a travelogue and it took hours so I want somebody to watch it.

🎼 the soundtrack | Imaan - Mustafa

One of my resolutions for 2024 was to manifest more experiences of "awesome off-the-beaten-path places in America that I'd never previously been to because I would have needed to drive myself to them," and so I'm tickled that I've actually been able to check that off at least once this year.

And the Adirondacks ended up containing a treasure trove of stories that really touch the intersections of class, of conservation paradigms, and - I found out later - of race as well.

In researching this video (yeah, it's a travelogue, but I'm Elaine and I can't help but want to get nerdy with history no matter where I go), I got to read a lot of info about the Rockefellers and the Roosevelts, which made it into the final cut. But there were some other incredibly fascinating finds that just didn't fit in this particular script.

One of them is the story of "Timbuctoo," a large plot of Adirondacks land that became one abolitionist's "scheme of justice and benevolence."

Gerrit Smith was a social reformer, a public intellectual, a candidate for President several times, and one of the richest men in New York thanks to his dad - the largest landholder in New York State in the early 1800s.

In its Constitution of 1821, New York State enacted a law that would only let free black men vote if they owned real estate worth at least $250 (equivalent to about $8500 now). In 1846, Gerrit Smith announced that he'd combat this by giving away 120,000 acres of his land in the Adirondacks to 3000 needy black New Yorkers.

He felt like rural life would not only be a way to escape slave catchers, but also give black people an alternative to alternative to urban city life and a chance at self-sufficiency alongside suffrage.

Unfortunately, the land was extremely hard to farm, especially for city people who didn't have much experience with making large tracts of forest and rock fruitful. Smith hadn't really given the best land he had up there to Black families, just mostly what he couldn't sell off.

That roughness, plus the isolation, and predictably ornery white neighbors made it so that fewer than 50 of the planned 3000 families actually took possession of the land he granted them. Only one family stayed permanently. The last member of that family, Lyman Epps, Jr., died in 1942 at age 102.

PBS has a great short documentary that goes into it all. I find the story funny because it's one of good intentions that fall just short of actually doing something because the generous, open-minded guy at the heart of the plot still isn't quite generous and open-minded enough.

To Gerrit Smith's credit though, his great house in Peterboro served as a major stop on the Underground Railroad.

🪢related threads

• I also would have loved to dive deeper into the creation of the Adirondacks Park Agency in the 1970s, by NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller (yes, they are everywhere... still). I was worried the video was already getting a little too dense, so instead read through this beautifully done digital tribute to all the controversies and fights surrounding land use in the reserve. [The Adirondack Experience]
• Speaking of land use controversies, currently there are farmer protests spreading across the EU and India right now. And while some eco-narratives oversimplify what's happening as farmers "standing in the way of progress," there are actually deeper roots to consider around regulatory support, rising costs, and globalization. [Down to Earth]
• Similarly, when we talk about climate solutions and climate justice, we need to dig into whether or not the solutions are exploitative. Author and activist Hamza Hamouchene talks about "green energy colonialism" and "extractivist power dynamics" in this excellent Grean Dreamer podcast episode. [Green Dreamer]
• Speaking of green energy colonialism, that's still happening around the world to indigenous communities. In fact, a UN report has found that Indigenous peoples resisting takeover of their lands and territories are facing more and more arrests and incarcerations as they interset with government and third party interests, "especially in extractive industries and conservation." [Mother Jones]
• The issues surrounding who benefits from what kind of environmental initiative was a big theme in my Adirondacks research, and it's still starkly relevant right now, and if you look for it, there's a lot of amazing thinking around the idea of a more holistic approach to sustainability. Peter Sutoris writes about how it can't be engineered, "like peace, it is a social and political challenge." [Undark]

🗨️a final quote

According to the United Nations, the goal is a net-zero world where all emissions released are counterbalanced by emissions that are eliminated. Based on these policies, this destination is clear and all that matters is how quickly we can get there. But what if the destination is wrong? What if, just as a mutually destructive world couldn’t secure real peace, a net-zero world can’t guarantee real sustainability?

-- Peter Sutoris

✨enjoying: a piece of pop culture fun

And now for something completely different.

I've found my new comfort show and it turns out it's an old one? Apparently, while the world was swooning about the Great British Bake Off, there was another charming cooking competition happening at the same time and also featuring Mary Berry: Britain's Best Home Cook.

I'm not a baker or a big fan of sweets, so while I did enjoy watching Britons futz around with dough and low fidelity drama, I was never particularly interested in the food itself.

This show though is right up my alley - it's still got people being delightfully understatedly British, which means a lot of adorable nervous tittering, the occasional silent tear as a dish fails, and heartwarming geniality as each home cook competitor supports the other.

I've been watching it on Hulu.

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