Colorful fishing lures were found in a number of booths.
Review and Photos By Greg Smith
INDIAN LAKE, N.Y. – Resembling a homecoming parade for Adirondack material culture, Route 28 springs into action every September with objects and art that epitomize the area’s historical production and heritage. Running September 12-16, the Adirondack Mountain Antiques Show featured a few dozen dealers who set up tents and booths along Main Street in the town center of Indian Lake, putting on an unmissable event for buyers who travel through the area.
The show brings forth all things Adirondack: from a wilderness of taxidermy animals to fishing accessories, boats and paddles, hunting accessories, knives, snowshoes, Native American material, ephemera and photographs, fine and decorative arts, furniture, toys, baskets and much more.
The lighthearted nature of the event is a draw for vendors who look for a more informal and sell-on-your-own-terms setting, as they rent space on residents’ lawns and set up tents next to one another.
As the show spreads down Route 28, buyers are often drawn to the large courtyard organized by Jon Magoun of Magoun Bros., South Paris, Maine. The dealer sets up a sprawling cooperative of exhibitors under tents, this year with nine under his arm. The dealers form a U-shaped field with tents forming the perimeter around the edge, opening to the road with a large yard at center featuring taxidermy bears, wild cats, deer, moose, otters and other animals, canoes, oars and plenty of mounted antlers.
Magoun noted that this year’s display took two and a half days to set up, and he was pleased with the results and had made sales on the morning of the first day. He noted a painting at the back of his booth featuring a moose in shallow water at sunset. The painting was well-documented on its verso, titled “Watching For his Mate at Sun down” and signed by Fred E. Abbott of Biddeford, Maine, February 1925.
In the same tent was Robert Ross of Ross Bros., Florence, Mass., who showed off a J.H. Rushton Indian Girl canoe, circa 1900. “It’s got the long deck, which is unusual for these,” Ross said. Rushton made an illustrious career as a boatbuilder, but it was not until later on in life.
“It’s okay to touch these, but not so much if they’re alive,” I told him. It was just like going to the zoo for Reed Smith, who saw a number of animals he had never seen before.
“He sort of dragged his feet into building canvas canoes,” Ross said. “He owned a shoe store until the 1870s, when he got tuberculosis. He thought going into the wilderness would cure it – it was a thought at the time – so he built his first canoe to do that.” His Canton, N.Y., business initially produced Rob Roy-style decked canoes and pulling boats. He would later get into the canvas canoe market at the turn of the century. He said, “If I’m going to build a canvas canoe, I’m going to build the best one,” Ross remarked, “And he did.”
Randy Coulton of Greenville, Maine, was also under Magoun’s tent. The dealer had another booth set up in Blue Mountain Lake, but wanted to be on hand for the Indian Lake show in its opening days. He featured a number of smaller taxidermy animals, including a badger and otter.
Jim LeFurgy, Wiscasset, Maine, was exhibiting a nice Penobscot painted box with geometric designs painted around it. It featured red and blue paint with spruce root-sewn seams, circa 1810-20. “It’s the earliest piece of Penobscot that I have,” he said. He also featured a Penobscot root club with a spirit face. “The face represented a spirit that they would bring to life in the wood,” he said.
The weather could not have been more pleasant for the week, settling in at 75 degrees with blue skies above. Buyers strolled down the sidewalk, entering a booth and coming out with something under their arms – something with a name, a place and a story – and something to take home as an enduring memento of the Adirondacks, of time well spent.
