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HOMES EVERY WEEK! Times of Ti
May 4, 2019
suncommunitynews.com
• EDITION •
Ti board breaks cap
Supermajority of voters needed to enact 12.6 percent levy hike
‘America’s most historic landscape’
By Tim Rowland STA FF W RITER
TICONDEROGA | To repair a broken budget brought about by both long- and short-term factors, the Ticonderoga Central School Board voted unanimously last Thursday to present the public with a $23 million spending plan that raises the tax levy by 12.6 percent. Because it exceeds a state-suggested 2 percent tax cap, the plan must be approved by a 60 percent supermajority of the voters to take effect. The budget, which was sharply criticized by some members of the public during last Thursday’s meeting, is a reflection of a steep increase in health insurance costs over the last 18 months, and stingy state funding formulas that for years have fallen further behind increasing expenses. If approved, an owner of a home with a taxable value of $100,000 would see an annual increase of $135 in Ticonderoga, and $170 in Hague.
Fort Ticonderoga will open for daily visits May 4.
Fort Ticonderoga opens for daily visitors By Tim Rowland STA FF W RITER
TICONDEROGA | History has a reputation for being static, a one-dimensional chain of events frozen in time. This narrow view is frequently projected onto museums by people who assume they are dry and dusty places. As Fort Ticonderoga prepares to open for daily admission Saturday, it is more than willing to take on these biases head-on and show itself as a lively place where knowledge is always expanding and, with it, our understanding of history itself.
» Budget Cont. on pg. 3
Photo provided
“People have the perception that nothing changes, that history is done,” said Beth Hill, the fort’s president and CEO. “But history isn’t the past, it’s an active discipline.” Hill calls Fort Ticonderoga “America’s most historic landscape,” a reflection of the scenery, the consequences of what happened there and history that is not limited to the fort, but has spanned the centuries rife with interesting events and colorful personalities. At the fort, visitors are encouraged to become active participants in discovering the past. “People want to have fun and build memories and come to a special place,” she said. “But some will want to take a deeper dive.”
‘HISTORICAL LITERACY’
The role of the exhibits and programs have changed a bit since the advent of the internet,
where curious visitors can track down raw facts on their own. So it becomes the job of a historic site to get visitors involved in the process of historical discovery. “(Visitors) are asking, ‘How did you know that?’” Hill said. “So we give them a historical literacy, the skill set to know how to inquire.” The story of the fort also changes each year because new research is always adding to the understanding of events. Each season, the fort focuses on a particular year in time — this year it’s 1758 — which, Hill said, brings a particular time to life to the visitors, while also giving the staff a chance to reassess what’s known of that particular time and what impacts it had on the American storyline. » Fort Ti Cont. on pg. 10
I MY PARK DAY s n r u t e R
I
Volunteers show love for local sites By Sarah Morris CONTRIBUTING W RITER
Historian Amy Godine speaks about blackface to an audience at the Whallonsburg Grange. Photo by Tim Rowland
ADK BLACKFACE
By Tim Rowland STA FF W RITER
WHALLONSBURG | A recent flurry of racism based on the old entertainment schtick of blackface is a rekindling of an unfortunate tradition that lasted more than a century, and was common even in the lily white Adirondacks, historian Amy Godine told an audience last week at the Whallonsburg Grange. Blackface predated the Civil War, but it was in the postbellum period that it became wildly popular, something of a nervous reaction to the newly freed
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that did not imply a desire for racial equality. The delay of blackface’s arrival was not out of any sense of social justice, but for the practical reason that scant populations, difficult travel and a lack of suitable theaters discouraged the minstrel acts that were popular in the city from infiltrating the nooks and crannies of the evolving Adirondack Park. » Blackface Cont. on pg. 10
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slaves. By darkening their faces and taking on a dim or goofy demeanor, whites were doing on stage what they had not been able to do on the battlefield — perpetuating the subservience of an entire race of people. Godine said blackface was late in moving into the Adirondacks, “but when it moved, it flew.” The mountains were strongly pro-Union, but
» Park day Cont. on pg. 2
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Racist entertainment was equated with community service, historian says
PLATTSBURGH | The eighthannual I Love My Park Day is right around the corner, and the state of New York is preparing to celebrate. The event — set this year for Saturday, May 4 — was created to get people excited about cleaning up and refurbishing local parks and campgrounds. From bagging litter to planting trees, volunteers throughout the state help how they can to improve the area. Volunteers are able to sign up online to join different groups and help them with their tasks; and for most of the projects, people of all ages are welcome to participate in making the Earth a cleaner, greener place. “More people than ever before are enjoying the beautiful and unique outdoor resources New York state has to offer,” Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos said in a press release.