Newcomb adding visitor info, museum to town center

NEWCOMB | The Town of Newcomb has informally opened its new, but temporary, visitor center across from the Overlook Park, which will serve until a permanent center is built on neighboring property that previously served as storage for highway salt. The center is located in a former branch-bank building that has been closed for a number of years. Also opening soon will be the new town museum, which will be next door to the visitor center, in the former Episcopal church that was moved with the rest of the Tahawus community in 1963. Together, the two new operations will help create critical mass for a Newcomb town center that will have a more cohesive feel than is currently the case, said Supervisor Robin DeLoria. Newcomb's services and attractions are largely scattered along several miles of Rt. 28N, making it more challenging to present an identity. But the visitor center and museum will join a growing collection of facilities in a centralized area, including the health center, rescue squad, golf course and the overlook. "A center is what's blossoming right now," said town communications director Dave Hughes. The vision came together when the town received a $365,000 grant to move the necessary, but not terribly picturesque, highway shed to a more environmentally friendly location. "From there it just felt like things fell into place for us without having to go out and look," DeLoria said. "We've just been following the trail of breadcrumbs." The branch bank property went to auction, part of a bigger package of real estate, and the buyers were willing to in turn sell it to the town. The museum will move to one of the more storied and visible buildings in town, a log cabin that was a former sporting camp that today sits on the edge of town, a steeple bolted to the roof. It, along with an identical cabin, was built in the early 1930s on Bear Island on Sanford Lake about a mile from the village of Tahawus. The camp was abandoned when National Lead bought out the Tahawus Club land, but a small congregation of Episcopals repurposed the cabin into a church, dismantling it and rebuilding it in the village. But six years later, the entire town of Tahawus, including the church, was moved to Newcomb so National Lead could mine ore that had been discovered beneath the town. Hughes said he expects the visitor center and museum to be well-utilized because the overlook across the street is a natural and popular stopping point for tourists. Among the Adirondacks' greatest photo-ops, the expansive vista takes in the southern High Peaks and almost always has several people enjoying the view at any given time. The crown jewel at the site will be the planned $1.9 million regional welcome center introducing travelers to attractions and amenities in the central Adirondack region known as Five Towns. Construction of the center has been pushed back to 2023 to allow for more financing to be lined up after Covid drove up the cost of materials, DeLoria said. The bulk of the projects will be grant-funded. With the overlook on one side of the highway and the visitor and conference center on the other, more people will be apt to slow down and have a look around. DeLoria said service signs are also planned at the entrance to the Upper Works trailhead, recently recast into a hiking and history destination by the town and Open Space Institute. And perhaps the greatest feathers in Newcomb's cap of late are the acclaimed restaurants just down the road, the Lake Harris Lodge and Newcomb Cafe and Campground, which also sells gas. "Since those two places opened there has been a transitional change," DeLoria said.

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Newcomb adding visitor info, museum to town center

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