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ON THE SCENE: Saints and Sinners tour

Linda Friedlander, Ruth Hart and Joyce McLean in Hart’s garden (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

Several popular eateries and bars in Lake Placid, plus one lovely garden, are former places of worship – actually still places of worship but of another kind.

The theme of the Lake Placid-North Elba Historical Society’s Saint and Sinners tour was the stories behind these conversions, along with the histories of several other places of worship.

Enthusiastically led and organized by Bill Borzilleri, the tours provide insights into Lake Placid’s history in an informative, engaging, and fun way. Borzilleri got the idea several years ago when he and his wife Judy were out in Telluride, Colorado, visiting their daughter and, while there, took a historical tour of local drinking establishments. He thought similar tours would be popular in Placid. He was right.

The tour started at the Lake Placid-North Elba’s History Museum located in the train station with participants traveling together by trolley to the venues.

The first stop was Ruth Hart’s garden built round the foundation of the original St. Eustace Episcopal Church. Participants learned that there used to be two Episcopal churches in Lake Placid, one on Interlaken Avenue overlooking Lake Placid for summer residents and the other, for the locals, where Pilgrim Holiness is now located. The Sentinel Road church was named St. Hubert’s, a variation on the spelling of Eustace. In 1924, St. Hubert’s was sold to the Pilgrim Holiness Congregation, and in 1927 St. Eustace was taken apart and rebuilt in its current location in just three months. The new church was given a basement and winterized.

Beverley Reid and Karen Fountain (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

“It was like jungle when we started,” said Ruth Hart of the lovely garden. “We came down here one day and suddenly I realized we had more here than we expected.”

Clearing out the overgrowth, Hart realized the rubble of rocks formed the outline of a church foundation and hired a local mason from Saranac Lake who reassembled the foundation walls. An attempt to plant bushes revealed the altar’s stone floor, and former mayor Jamie Rogers discovered a stone walkway up a slope to Interlaken Avenue.

St. Agnes Church was the second stop. The Rev. John Yonkovig led a lively and informative discussion of the building’s architecture, stained-glass window, renovations and recent additions.

“Our first church was built in 1894 on Lake Street, now called Main Street,” said Yonkovig. “Within 10 years, it proved too small. In 1905, they built a new wooden church up here, but within 10 more years that also became too small, so in 1923-24 they built this modified gothic church around it.”

Yonkovig. spoke lovingly of the baptismal font carved out of a piece of billion-year-old Lake Placid granite by local sculptor Tyler Rand.

The Rev. John Yonkovig standing behind the baptismal (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

“Tyler carved the mountains into the sides of the baptismal,” he continued. “Here is the Great Range, on the front is Whiteface, and Marcy, the highest of the mountains, is on the third side.”

Rabbi Friedmann shared differences of faith and architecture along with the history of the Lake Placid Synagogue, the only year-round Jewish house of worship in the Adirondack Park. He also demonstrated how to play the ram’s horn as an added treat. His remarks on the site of the first synagogue on Mill Hill prompted a lively discussion as to its exact location, which Town Historian Beverly Reid confirmed as the building immediately below the Lake Placid News.

While remembered by many as Freddie’s, Mud Puddles by others, the next stop was Wise Guys, one of Placid’s popular places to dance, watch sporting events and enjoy drinks with friends. Built in 1888 as a Methodist church, the building used to be located up by the post office where the Adirondack Community Church now stands. Like St. Agnes, the congregation outgrew the original church. They, too, decided to sell their building and construct a new larger one out of stone.

“They rolled the building down here on logs in 1923 to turn it into a restaurant. An auto showroom was put in downstairs,” said Lisa Planty, who owns Wise Guys with husband Nick. “A news article at the time said the new business was exchanging feeding people’s souls for feeding their bodies.”

Next on the tour was the Adirondack Community Church, which had a brief starring role in the opening credits of the film “Peyton Place.” Though Methodist from the beginning, it started as a community church welcoming and being used from time to time by other denominations.

Nick and Lisa Planty, owners of Wise Guys (Provided photo — Naj Wikoff)

Church hospitality was on full display at St. Eustace, without a doubt one of the most beautiful churches in the region. As with St. Agnes and the Community Church, the stained windows were a popular topic. Sitting in the church, though, it’s hard to imagine that it was disassembled, the beams, fittings and windows carried down the street, and reassembled within three months. Whoever was in charge of that job was extraordinarily well organized.

Our last stop was Smoke Signals, for decades Perkin’s Hardware, and the former location of St. Agnes Church. Unfortunately, the recent renovations into a clothing store and now restaurant/bar resulted in the loss of the stained glass windows (though the main window is now on display at the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery), but the original rafters can be seen on the upper level.

The Lake Placid Institute provided all participants copies of their book, “Sacred Sites of the Adirondacks,” and the historical society provided each with a wine glass with its logo. Another grand tour concluded with people already eager for next year. Taking advantage of the spirits on sale, many stayed for dinner and continued to share their stores into the evening.

“It was a splendid outing,” said Joyce McLean. “It was a great way to visit Lake Placid and learn a lot about its history. Everything was superb.”

“I thought it was fantastic,” said Carla Eilo, newly hired director of the Lake Placid-North Elba Historical Society. “It was really neat getting to meet people in the community and to learn about these different places. It’s wonderful to see how the locals bond together to make this great community.”

“I think that we have so many beautiful churches in this little village is very cool,” said Peter Roland Jr., a member of the historical society’s board of directors. “I thought the presenters were good. I loved their enthusiasm about what they do and their part in the community. It was a great way to showcase what many of us drive by everyday and don’t even think about.”

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