Iconic road, castle and other structures in the midst of restoration and rehabilitation efforts
By Tom French
In the beginning, it was just a scenic road project that couldn’t make it to the top, an idea attributed to Marcellus Leonard, a traveling “peddler and merchant from Bangor, New York,” whose family opened the first Leonard’s Department Store in Saranac Lake in the late 1890s.
Named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, the structures and the road itself have been undergoing modernization and rehabilitation for the last decade, with work continuing this summer specifically on the castle and gatehouse.
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Leonard had ridden Colorado’s Pike’s Peak Carriage Road in 1900, and he envisioned a similar experience for Adirondack motorists. As he was “bringing everything from sewing machines to salt to… isolated cabins, he would gaze up at Whiteface… and dream of a highway up its slopes.” Leonard was chairman of an early “Committee on a Road up Whiteface Mountain” and was later referred to as the “father of the Whiteface Mountain Memorial Highway.”
Early plans included an eternal light at the summit which would “glow as an airline beacon.”
Gov. Franklin Roosevelt tossed the first shovel of earth on Sept. 11, 1929, but the bulk of the construction started in 1931. Financed through state bonds, it was not a CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) project as sometimes reported and initially consisted of three parts – the gatehouse, road, and an “upper tollhouse” first conceived as a “rest house… of native logs in the style of an Adirondack log cabin.”
Only the gatehouse at the bottom and road were completed when Roosevelt returned on Sept. 14, 1935, to dedicate the highway to the Fallen Soldiers of World War One. Gov. Mario Cuomo rededicated it to veterans of all wars in 1985.
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Work on the castle began in 1935, but the summit House and elevator were never part of the original plan, though an escalator was discussed in early proposals along with guest rooms.
One possible myth involves Roosevelt suggesting the elevator when he was unable to reach the summit during the dedication ceremony, but funding for an elevator was initially vetoed by Gov. Lehman prior to Roosevelt’s visit.
Another hurdle was keeping stone masons who objected to the lack of a nearby movie theater. They “refused to stay because they couldn’t see Mae West or Jean Harlow.”
Road rehabilitations began in 2014. Phase II, which lasted from 2017 to 2019, was replacing the elevator where it’s “always wet and 40 degrees,” according to Aaron Kellett, general manager of the Whiteface facilities which include the memorial highway. “It’s a big challenge dealing with modern technology in elevators because everything has a sensor on it, and it’s all wet in there.”
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Work to replace the elevator included one winter when the road was cleared with a “big snow blower.”
“The good thing is it’s always 40 degrees in the center of the mountain. You go inside to warm up in the winter. In the summer, you go in to cool off.”
The upgrade included deepening the elevator shaft to fix an issue from the 1930s when the shaft and tunnel didn’t meet perfectly. “The elevator stopped six feet too short of where it should have gone.” A wheelchair lift was installed in 1989. “It was a nightmare because it was always soaking wet. We were fighting that lift all the time. Now the elevator lands flush with the tunnel.”
The original lead-coated copper roof on the summit building has been replaced with sheet copper, and the oak beams and rafters which had deteriorated over the decades have also been replaced with new oak.
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Perhaps the biggest surprise in the restorations was when the outer wall of the castle almost collapsed as old windows were removed. “We pulled a window and rocks started falling out, so we went into emergency mode to just secure the building. Our first step was making sure the building wasn’t going to crumble to the ground.”
Work on the castle has been ongoing for several years. Although half of the building is on bedrock, the outer half was built on fill that has settled over the last 80-plus years. Many stones, including massive granite slabs, had cracked and needed to be replaced.
Another challenge was a massive stone chimney. According to Kellett, “It weighs the castle down and creates other areas for water to get in.” Working with SHPO (New York’s State Historic Preservation Office), it was decided to take it down, but the rocks were labeled and are being kept on site so it can be rebuilt in the future if decided.
During an Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH) Tour in 2023, Kellett explained how masons are even replicating the original joints in the restoration process. “The masons call it the Whiteface Joint. It’s pointed. It delivers water away from the masonry.”
Even so, Kellett acknowledges that repelling water is difficult. “The prevailing wind just really hammers it. Those windows were totally destroyed.”
The last phase will be the chalet-style gatehouse. It served as a home with three bedrooms until 1985. It also housed displays from the Wilmington Historical Society in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Originally managed by the DEC, the highway and its structures became part of ORDA in 1982 when ORDA was created to steward the venues from the Winter Games.
During the AARCH Tour, Kellett highlighted the rare birds and plants found at the higher elevation. Plant species such as Boott’s rattlesnake root and the northern single-spike sedge can only be found in a limited number of places around the world.
Whiteface is also known as a home for the Bicknell’s thrush, one of North America’s rarest songbirds. “You can hear it most of the time,” Kellett said. “But you hardly see it. They’re very elusive. They sound like somebody’s playing a piccolo or flute.”
In line with recent studies about changing ranges for various species due to global warming, Kellett said, “We’re seeing birds in these alpine elevations that we haven’t seen before.”
ORDA works with Adirondack Avian Expeditions to offer dawn tours up the highway with New York State licensed bird guide Joan Collins.
On the day of the AARCH tour, lightning was striking throughout the area, so the elevator and access to the summit were closed. Renovations within the tunnel and shaft included changes to grounding system. When asked what happens if you are in the tunnel when lightning strikes the summit, Dan Gallo, a long-time employee for the highway and ski area, said, “You see a flash and then it hits the end of the tunnel, the rails at the end, and all of a sudden you hear a great big boom.”
The Whiteface Veterans’ Memorial Highway opens May 17 for the 2024 season and usually stays open through Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Click here for more information.
Great article. There was a lot of really interesting information I never knew. One small correction — in 1985 it would have been Governor Mario Cuomo, not Andrew. Mario, like his son twenty years later, appreciated the uniqueness and beauty of the Adirondacks.
Hello Mario — Thanks for reading and commenting. We have made that correction. Good catch. My apologies.
Unfortunately when the highway was reconstructed, they brought in fill for the shoulders that was full of weeds that threaten the rare species along the top of the road. The Adirondack invasive species program has been working to remove them.
Great read. Thank you so much. Dad born and raised in Lake Placid. As a kid, I remember the old Chevy making it up the highway.
You mean Columbus Day, Right?