News stories tagged with "big-moose-lake"

(01/13/12) This weekend in Blue Mountain Lake, the Adirondack Museum will host a lecture on the Chester Gillette murder trial. The 1906 murder of Grace Brown on Big Moose Lake was one of the biggest national scandals of its day. The case inspired "American Tragedy," one of the great novels of the 20th century. In the decades since, the story of Grace Brown and Chester Gillette has sparked more novels, operas, folk songs, Hollywood films and documentaries. In 2005, Brian Mann set out to travel from the Adirondacks to New York City, to trace why this particular murder case continues to hold such a grip on our imagination.

(06/19/06) Members of the Herkimer County Historical Society say they've found the antique tennis racket used in the "American Tragedy" murder a century ago. The racket's authenticity was confirmed using marks from the murder trial. Brian Mann has details.

(03/16/06) This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Chester Gillette-Grace Brown murder case. The 1906 murder of Grace Brown on Big Moose Lake shocked the nation and is a big part of local history in the Adirondacks. It has sparked novels, movies, folk songs and an opera. Craig Brandon is the author of Murder in the Adirondacks, part true-crime story, part local history and part social commentary. He's researched and written about the Gillette-Brown murder case for over 25 years. Brandon has published a new book, Grace Brown's Love Letters. He spoke with Todd Moe.

(12/02/05) On December 2nd 2005, the Metropolitan Opera unveiled a new work based on Theodore Dreiser's classic novel American Tragedy. Dreiser's novel was inspired by a true Adirondack story. In the summer of 1906, a young man named Chester Gillette took his pregnant girlfriend boating on Big Moose Lake, near Old Forge. The next day, Grace Brown's body was found floating in a secluded cove in South Bay. Chester Gillette tried to flee, but was captured in Inlet and tried for murder. The case sparked a media frenzy and made headlines around the world. As Brian Mann reports, over the last century it has become a part of American mythology.

(12/01/05) One of the most controversial events in Adirondack history is back in the news this week. In July of 1906, a handsome young man named Chester Gillette was accused of drowning his pregnant girlfriend, Grace Brown, in a secluded cove at Big Moose Lake. Gillette was the nephew of a mill-owner in Cortland, New York. Brown was one of the company's workers. Gillette's trial and execution made headlines around the world. The story is the basis for Theodore Dreiser's classic novel An American Tragedy.

In the hundred years since, the murder inspired other novels, plays, and two Hollywood movies -- including the classic film A Place In the Sun. Tomorrow, a new opera based on the murder and Theodore Dreiser's novel will premier at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Brian Mann spoke with Charles Adams, who's been a summer resident of Big Moose Lake since the 1930s. Adams drives a tour boat on the lake and is part of the Grace Brown Committee that is commemorating the anniversary of her murder.

(12/01/05) At Chester Gillette's trial in Herkimer, the prosecution read from Grace Brown's love letters. The last of those letters was written a week before her murder. The letter is read by Jennifer Donnelly, who grew up in Lewis County. She's the author of a novel about the murder called A Northern Light, the 2006 selection of North Country Reads--a one-book, one community program--and is tonight's guest on Readers & Writers at 7 pm.

(09/30/03) For the past 8 years, a group of Big Moose Lake residents, year-round and summer visitors, has been researching and collecting stories about the early years of life on Big Moose. They've put together a book, to be published next spring, titled Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks: The Lake, the Land and People. Todd Moe visited a Big Moose Lake summer camp recently and met with some of the residents working on the book.

(09/10/03) Jane Barlow from Big Moose Lake explains the "palisade" style of seasonal camp construction.

(04/03/00) As long as 100 years ago, balsam pillows were made and marketed in the Adirondacks to tourists who wanted to take an aromatic reminder of their vacation home with them. This Adirondack tradition is still alive in Big Moose Lake. The Big Moose Community Chapel began holding balsam bees in the 1930s.