Max Moore Tree House offers fun for all

People check out the nearly completed Max Moore Memorial Tree House during the 2015 grand opening in Plattsburgh. Located at the beginning of the Saranac River Trail on Pine Street near the Saranac Street Bridge, the Tree House is equipped with a ramp allowing access to those with wheelchairs and strollers. The Tree House is named after Max Moore, a Plattsburgh youth who depended on a wheelchair for mobility, who died in 2009 at 8 years of age. PR Photo.

Max Moore Tree House offers fun accessible for all — Attraction built in memory of local boy

BY CHRIS FASOLINO

It is almost a universal dream of childhood: to have a tree house.

Soon, children who never thought they could share in that dream will be able to reach it.

Th at is because work is beginning on the Max Moore Memorial Tree House, a universally accessible tree house near the Saranac River in Plattsburgh. Saturday’s groundbreaking ceremony marked a milestone for the project.

INSPIRATION

Th e idea came from Dr. Heidi Moore, a pediatrician, whose son Max had a physical disability. Two years into the planning of the project, Max passed away.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Moore said: “Th is started with the idea of taking a little boy who was wheelchair-bound and giving him a tree house.”

Th e Max Moore Memorial Tree House will have a ramp, and it will be accessible to people of all ages and conditions.

Moore was wearing a blue shirt with the word “believe” in large letters.

Project Coordinator Ashley Cousens, who followed, expressed appreciation for donors large and small. While major contributors include the Plattsburgh Sunrise Rotary Club, Liquor & Wine Warehouse, Plattsburgh Mayor James Calnon, Luke Cyphers and his family, Payea & Barnett, the Plattsburgh Recreation Department, the Treehouse Guys, Garry Douglas, Sherb and Amy House and Fujitsu, many small donations have also been received.

“Every dollar we’ve received has made a diff erence,” Cousens continued. “Th is is a project that speaks to people.”

Cousens said that all the materials for the tree house will be arriving within three to four weeks, and that the project will be completed this summer.

“We’re kind of shooting for July.”

In fact, Cousens concluded her remarks at the groundbreaking with the encouraging words: “Hopefully, we’ll see you in a couple of months for the grand opening.”

GROUNDBREAKING

At the edge of the Saranac River, where the tree house will soon be built, a tent had been set up for Saturday’s groundbreaking ceremony. Speakers stood behind a podium emblazoned with the Plattsburgh City Seal, which is marked by a heraldic lion and by the Latin motto Ipsi Sibi Praemium Virtus (“virtue is its own reward.”)

In addition to Moore and Cousens, Calnon also spoke briefl y, calling the project “a great idea that caught on and became such a passionate idea that so many people shared in, that it got us to today.”

Discussing the event afterward, Calnon commented: “Th is is such a natural extension of the trail, as we’re trying to celebrate our natural resources, our river. And there’s the other statement: We recognize we’re an old city, which has accessibility issues everywhere, and this sends a message that we need to think about this.”

He also recalled how much he had enjoyed climbing trees as a child and how he could remember today where his favorite trees were. Th e tree house, he noted, will allow children with accessibility issues to share that kind of joy.

“Why would you want to deny that to a child?”

Saturday’s event also featured a Fun Run for children. Fourteen local children ran and toddled along a course. Th ey were cheered on by Burghy, SUNY Plattsburgh’s colorful mascot.

Th e young runners had the opportunity to add their handprints to a banner that will be used at the ribbon-cutting ceremony when the tree house is completed. Small handprints in bright green, blue, yellow and red adorn the banner.

Local resident Jessica Law volunteered to set up a table to sell homemade baked goods — including meringue puff s, brownie bites and chocolate-chip cookies — in exchange for 50-cent or $1 donations to the tree-house project.

SUPPORT

Cardinal Public Relations at SUNY Plattsburgh has been assisting with the project during the past school year. Vicky Scott of Cardinal PR said that since she and her fellow public-relations students take on year-long projects, they do not always get to see the results. With the tree house, however, they were able to witness the groundbreaking ceremony. “It’s very exciting,” she said.

Nicholas Dubay, who has worked with Cousens on the treehouse project, was there with his wife, Laurie, and their 8-year-old daughter, Velauriea.

“We love Plattsburgh, and we love what they’re trying to do here,” Laurie said. “We’re very happy about it; we’ve followed the project from the beginning.”

Th e riverside setting, she added, is “such a pretty spot” for the tree house.

Th ere, by the fl owing waters, children of all abilities will be able to feel the wind on their faces and enjoy the experience of being up in a tree.

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Iroquoi s Indian Museum Offer s Cultur e, Art & Inter activity

BY ALLISON COLLINS

Following a closure of more than a year, the Iroquois Indian Museum, 324 Caverns Road, Howes Cave, reopened April 1 with pandemic-friendly exhibits, demonstrations, performances and more.

Cassandra Miller, communications manager with the museum, said visitors have responded heartily to its reopening.

“We were closed since 2019 and, when we opened back up on April 1, it was snowing and cold, but we still had visitors come,” she said. “Th e museum is really cool, because it has archaeology exhibits and also the largest collection of contemporary Iroquois art in the world; that’s what diff erentiates it from (other regional museums), and the weekly events. And just being able to learn about the native culture and a culture outside of oneself is kind of special.”

Th ough Miller said tourists represent “a signifi cant percentage” of the museum’s visitors, adapting to the pandemic has increased and diversifi ed patronage.

“Th e hardest part was that, the big part of the mission of the museum is, education about culture and it’s a living culture, so there’s the importance of live demonstrations and Iroquois artists coming to the museum and that interaction,” she said. “(Losing) that direct connection to visitors at the museum was diffi cult, but we did a really good job of pivoting to fulfi ll that mission virtually.

“All the demonstrations and educators that had been scheduled for last summer did a Facebook live series,” Miller continued. “Th ey were live, doing their demos and able to talk to people. It was similar to what would’ve happened at the museum, but we were able to connect with people from all over the country. Compared to 2019, we actually have served more people this April than we had in 2019 for the entire month … but we had signifi cantly more people coming to our virtual fi eld trips.”

Creating virtual fi eld trips, Miller said, allowed the museum to continue catering to one of its mainstay groups – schoolchildren. Attendees of the virtual series, she noted, included a group from the Harvard Law Library and the Museum of Natural History, with the latter modeling its virtual fi eld trips after the museum’s.

“Th e museum has been busy, just not in the way it has been in the past,” she said.

But in-person visitors, Miller said, can expect to see returning favorites alongside new attractions this season.

“Th e museum is pretty lucky, because of having an amphitheater and being able to have outdoor space and

Iroquois Indian Museum Offers Culture, Art & Interactivity

enough space to social distance and still be safe,” she said, noting that masks are required in the museum. “In our children’s museum, there’s normally a lot of handson exhibits … and those are temporarily closed, but instead we have activity packs for kids that they can do individually, rather than touching things, so they’re still able to be engaged.

“A lot of visitors really like the Iroquois social dancers, and we have a few different groups coming for demonstrations and often they’ll invite visitors to participate in the dances,” Miller continued. “We have those throughout the summer, alternating with artist demonstrations of all different types, traditional and modern art from Iroquois artists.

Highlights of the season, Miller said, will include the Aug. 6 “Roots, Rhythm and Ale” amphitheater concert and the Oct. 9 opening exhibition.

“Roots, Rhythm and Ale we’re doing for a second time, and that features a local Schoharie band as well as Iroquois singer-songwriters,” she said. “It’s a fundraiser for the museum, but focuses on our connection to the area and Schoharie County. We invite local breweries and food vendors and it’s an outdoor concert, so people can enjoy the beauty of the grounds, and that’s a pretty cool thing.

“Another thing that’s noteworthy is that, normally we have an opening event in May, but we pushed it back to have kind of a celebration during not Columbus Day Weekend, but Indigenous People’s Weekend,” Miller continued. “It’s a contemporary artists’ exhibit, with art from Iroquois all over the country and the theme is always relevant to that community; this year’s theme is ‘Iroquois identity.’ There’s more than a dozen Haudenosaunee artists in the show.”

With a packed summer season and nearby attractions, Miller said, the Iroquois Indian Museum makes a great destination.

“Where the museum is located, you can make it a fun little day trip,” she said. “At the end of the road is Serious Brewing Company, the Iroquois Indian Museum, then Howe Caverns, so there’s this little bubble in Schoharie County that has all these tourist attractions.”

For more information or a full list of the summer’s events, visit iroquoismuseum.org, find “Iroquois Indian Museum” on Facebook or call 518-2968949.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, and noon to 4 on Sundays.

Social dancing demonstrations, Miller said, are a popular and important activity at the Iroquois Indian Museum. Contributed.