Ellen Swallow Richards

Since we were in Lake Placid with all the Olympic History, we had our own torch ceremony where we passed the torch from the first decade of the century to the current and last decade of out association.  Joyce represented Ellen Richards for the first decade and Marilyn Swierk represented the  President in the new century. We had an official Olympic torch and ended with the lighting of the Betty Lamp inside at our celebration banquet.

Our new friends at the Lake Placid Library were so excited about the Ellen DVD that NYAFCS Conference Chair, Shirley Ware, had given them that we wanted to make sure they had a nice photo of our Dear Ellen.  Bob made a quick trip over to the library on Friday while the conference was in session and presented them with this framed photo.

We know they will cherish this and use it to make known the accomplishments of Ellen Richards, including the founding of Home Economics in Lake Placid in 1909.

I always knew that Ellen was indeed in Lake Placid in 1899, but what a joy it was to actually see that she was entered in the Guest Registry for 1899 at the Lake Placid Club.  We found her name in the LPC Archives at the Lake Placid Library.

  This week is one that many of us have been anticipating for a long time.  We are returning to the place where it all began 100 years ago.  The New York Affiliate of AAFCS has invited us all to participate in their celebration of our 100th Birthday.  Many of us have been celebrating all year long, but this one is indeed special as we return to our roots.  The tiny little Adirondack town of Lake Placid doesn’t seem to know what to do with all the questions about the Lake Placid Club and what life was like here 100 years ago.  A few of the villagers know a little bit about the history of the Lake Placid Club, but not too many know a thing about Ellen Richards and what her contemporaries accomplished in subsequent visits to the Club from 1899-1908 as they met to eventually form the American Home Economics Association. This first photo is a lone hemlock tree, possibly what we call a “witness tree.”  Is is possible that this tree was a witness to these meetings 100 years ago.  It stands on the property where the LP Club once stood.  The original building burned in 1992 as a result of arson.

A lone chimney stands as a sentinel, watching over the land that once held the prestigious Lake Placid Club.

Today, this sign is at the entrance of the current Lake Placid Club property which is a time share.

The famous boathouse where Ellen met and conducted the business of the Lake Placid Conferences is long gone.  In its place is this lovely Boathouse Restaurant close to the same spot as the original.  Inside are a few relics from the original Chapel which Annie Dewey had built on the grounds of the LPC