Warren County is frequently referred to as the “Gateway to the Adirondacks,” and with that title comes centuries of interesting history across the county.
Much of that history is being commemorated in a new driving audio tour that follows the 40-mile Central Adirondack Trail across Warren County. This tour uses technology to take us to some of the county’s most interesting sites, where arrival will trigger stories about the locations broadcast on their cellphones or mobile devices through the “Explore Warren County NY” application.
The new First Wilderness Audio Driving Tour is the latest collaboration between Warren County Department of Planning and Community Development and Cliff & Redfield Interactive of Saratoga County, which has been assisting Warren County’s efforts to promote heritage tourism in the First Wilderness Heritage Corridor communities of western and northern Warren County.
The new audio tour includes 21 locations from Queensbury to Johnsburg, where GPS will trigger oral history of the sites relayed through users’ cellphones or mobile devices. It begins at Big Bend on the Hudson River and heads north along major highways and back roads to Warren County's northwest corner in North River.
You will learn the history of communities along the route, including notable features like the Adirondack Park boundary, Glens Falls, Lake George, Echo Lake, Hudson River Ice Meadows, Mill Creek, Glen Bridge, North Creek Depot Museum and much, much more, the history of these sites recited through your cellphone or mobile device as you pass designated features and communities.
“Warren County is such a beautiful county with so many interesting and historic places, and this easy-to-follow audio tour takes us from the Big Bend stretch of the Hudson River in Queensbury to bucolic North River and many wonderful spots in between to learn their fascinating history,“ explained Sara Frankenfeld, Warren County Planning Department’s GIS Administrator, a co-creator of the project.
The free “Explore Warren County,” app also offers an audio walking tour of North Creek, offering narratives of 25 points of interest on a 1.5-mile loop that, starting at Johnsburg Town Hall, follows the Hudson Riverwalk to the North Creek Depot Museum and returns along Main Street.
The Explore Warren County app also includes the popular Warren County Recreation Mapper and an audio version of the Warren County Historians’ Letterboxing Challenge. It is available in both the Apple and Android app stores at no charge.
Frankenfeld thanked Dan Forbush, founder and editor at Cliff and Redfield Interactive, who has spearheaded the project, for his year-long efforts to perfect the tour, with the help of student interns enlisted from Skidmore College, SUNY Adirondack, and SUNY Plattsburgh.
“It’s been an adventure to explore this new form of GPS-triggered storytelling with Sara and her team,” said Forbush. “We look forward to producing more audio tours, with the Lake Luzerne Heritage District and Dude Ranch Trail the next we’re focused on.”
Photo attached of Dunkley Falls on Mill Creek in Johnsburg. Mill Creek is one of the sites on the First Wilderness Audio Driving Tour.
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