FRONTIER
TOWN
North
Hudson, NY
Part 1 of 2 - June 27, 2009 (plus photos from the '50s and '70s)
Frontier Town was a Wild West Theme Park in the Adirondack region of Upstate New York (North Hudson, to be exact - north of Lake George). It opened on July 4, 1952 and, except for a few years in the 1980s, remained open until 1998. Click here to see Steve Gross' great Frontier Town tribute site, which includes many photos and a more detailed history of the park.
Frontier Town has remained abandoned since 1998 and, except for some of the more valuable items which were sold at an auction in 2004, we learned online that it still contains most of its original structures. So, in the summer of 2009 we decided to take a trip to the ole' Town to see what we would find...
by Ham and Kelly
Before posting what we found, I'd like to share some photos of my family and me when we visited Frontier Town in 1977.
These are two pictures that nearly every person had taken when they visited Frontier Town - the "Pillory" and the "Jail". Now, since this post is likely going to be more on the informative side than the humorous side, I figured I'd post this photo of myself at Frontier Town in 1977 just to add a little of the "absurd" to the page.
Yes, I was a bit confused - wearing both an Indian Headdress and a Sheriff's badge. Also, I don't believe any Indians or Sheriffs wore plaid pants with enormous belts. Plus, I seem to be playing that pipe like I think it's an instrument. At least I seem to be inadvertently giving the "metal" sign with my left hand.
I recently found the actual Sheriff's badge that I'm wearing in the picture:
Just to prove to you all how old Frontier Town really is (was), here are some classic photos from my father's collection. I don't know for certain when these were taken, but judging by the age of my father and his sister in the photos, it would have to be around 1953 or 1954.
I left these large to better show the detail. Photography has come a long way, baby!
Next is the aforementioned obligatory picture at the Pillory. My family - such trendsetters! I have covered their faces with leaves to protect The Innocent. Judging by other old photos I've seen, back then you could choose the sign for which offense your criminal was being punished. You can see what my father and aunt chose for Grandpa!
A couple more oldies. I didn't know what the second one was until Ham explained to me how they'd "dunk" the criminal in the Frontier Town show.
Ok, on to the new photos.
On June 27, 2009 we drove up Route 87 to North Hudson. After turning off of Exit 29, we saw the Frontier Town sign and large A-frame building shown in the picture at the top of this page. We turned into the parking lot and started exploring. Along with the sign and A-frame building, we found a couple of small office-style buildings, a train station, and a large stage. Oh, and just to add to the atmosphere, it was pouring rain that day.
Since there are so many pictures, I decided to make them small thumbnails. You can click on any of these photos to view them full size in a new window.
Here is a video clip of footage we shot that day:
We also saw an abandoned gas station across the street that had some Frontier Town signs visible inside its windows. I don't know what the Canadian flag is about as this is definitely still NY state and not really close to the border. Maybe they took Canadian money or something.
Traveling down the road a little bit, we saw Gokey's Trading Post, which held the Frontier Town auction in 2004 and also contained some items from the park displayed on its walls.
We thought that we had seen all that was left of the former Frontier Town. Well, once we got back home and did some investigating we found out that we had completely missed most of the park. So, that is why there is a Part 2 to this post. We revisited the area in September 2009 and, with a little help from some other explorers that we ran into, discovered the ruins of the main area of this Wild West Town...
(Posted 9/2009)
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