Olympic Glory in the Adirondacks

September 8
Another day trip we took was to Lake Placid. The Winter Olympics of 1980 and 1932 were played here in the Adirondack region of Lake Placid, NY. The “XIII Olympic Winter Games” were made famous by the win of the US Ice Hockey team when they beat the favored Soviet team and Finland in the medal round. “Miracle on Ice” was a movie made depicting this famous win. Lake Placid also marked the first use of artificial snow in Olympic competition.

Views of the Village

There were many venues that could still be visited…one that we enjoyed was the ski jumping area. Since it was in September that we were here, many of the venues were only open on weekends so we missed getting to tour some. We had our hearts set on taking a luge ride and also riding the gondola up Whiteface Mountain to the ski areas. We could only view that from the bottom.

Whiteface Ski Area and Olympic Ski Jumping Facility

On TV It Doesn't Look So Far...But It Awesome!!

Ski Ramps and Award Podium

A piece of history found here at Lake Placid, besides Olympic venues, was the farm and gravesite of John Brown. You history buffs recall that this abolitionist led the raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859 overtaking the Federal Arsenal thus setting the states on the course of Civil War. He and twenty-one other men launched this attack, but were either taken prisoner or killed when the Virginia Militia surrounded the arsenal and stormed the doors. John Brown was later hanged and his body and several of the others killed at Harper’s Ferry literally lay “moldering in the ground” on the farm homestead in the Lake Placid area.

Farm and Gravesite

Where the Statue is Looking, Makes One Ponder