Lawrence P. Gooley

North Country / Adirondack Author

Genre: North Country / Adirondack History

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Adirondack & North Country Gold: 50+ New & True Stories You’re Sure to Love

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Adirondack & North Country Gold-Front Cover

There is no other book out there like Adirondack & North Country Gold. Within these pages are 51 original stories about remarkable people, places, and events from the Adirondacks and foothills. Included are four anchor chapters that together are large enough to fill a volume: the life stories of Garrett Cashman, Michael Donovan, Harry Elkes, and Eben Rexford.

Though they may be unfamiliar names, their accomplishments are legend. Cashman was history’s second cluster balloonist who, in the 1950s, captured the imagination of the entire nation. Donovan was a world-champion athlete whose achievements rank among the rarest in sports. Elkes was a beloved world-champion cyclist with a brilliant and tragic career. And the modest and unassuming Rexford wrote one of the most enduring songs in American history, a best-seller for more than half a century.

There’s so much more among the other 47 stories. You’ll find humor (The Great Canine Court Caper); inspiration (the Dean Van Clute story); romance (Love So Strong, It’s Criminal); mystery (New York’s Legendary Vanishing Judge); and the offbeat (Alligators in the Adirondacks, and Rock Eaters? No Way … But Anything Else Will Do!). » More Details

History of Churubusco and the Town of Clinton, Clinton County, New York

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History of Churubusco and the Town of Clinton-Front Cover

Churubusco has an unusual name and an unusual range of historical connections. With one citizen for every 60 acres, the town of Clinton’s population is sparse by any measure. And yet, Clinton natives have played a leading role in the history of the county, the state, and other states as well.

Locally, we think of the humble reticent dairy farmer when we hear the name Churubusco. It’s accurate to a degree, and admirable, but perhaps most important for forming the roots of strong, pioneering individuals who have gone on to great success.

The scope of their reach is surprising: a state leader who both befriended and battled some of America’s most famous politicians; a founding father of another state and one of the country’s best-known cities; musicians who have performed across the nation and are at the top of their genre; a vital member of the US Olympic Bobsled Team; and two men who helped drive the North Country economy for half a century. » More Details

Oliver’s War: An Adirondack Rebel Battles the Rockefeller Fortune

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Oliver's War: An Adirondack Rebel Battles the Rockefeller Fortune-Front Cover

*** Adirondack Center for Writing Best Book of Nonfiction (2007) ***

The true story of Oliver Lamora’s battle with William Rockefeller is told here for the first time. For a decade in the early 1900s, their saga gripped newspaper readers from coast to coast.

William Rockefeller was the brother of John D. Rockefeller. Together they built the Standard Oil Trust, the richest, most powerful corporation in American history.

The aging Lamora was a hunter, fisherman, and lumberjack all his life in the far northern Adirondack Mountains of New York State. He was surviving on a meager Civil War pension when William Rockefeller decided to build a grand mountain estate. Lamora’s home was in the dying village of Brandon, and Brandon was in Rockefeller’s way. » More Details

Brendler’s Boys: The House That George Built

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Brendler's Boys: The House That George Built-Front Cover

When they started league play in 1953, the Eagles finished with no wins. In 1955, only their third year of league competition, they won their first sectional championship. Other titles followed through 1964, but in 1965, Chazy soccer entered a new era with the arrival of Coach George Brendler.

Brendler took a good team, taught them to play his style of soccer, and took the North Country by storm. No matter who the opponent was, no matter how big the school might be; more often than not, the Chazy Eagles cut them down to size. Brendler’s career at the helm lasted for twenty-four years. When he retired from coaching after the 1988 season, he left a tremendous legacy. » More Details

A History of the Altona Flat Rock, Silver Anniversary Edition

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A History of the Altona Flat Rock, Silver Anniversary Edition-Front Cover

The Altona Flat Rock is spectacular. Its natural physical beauty is outstanding, its glacial story is dramatic to the highest degree, and its place in North Country history is unique, remarkable, and undeniable.

This updated version of the 1980 original work takes the reader directly to the source, with many new photographs documenting the Flat Rock’s features, both natural and man-made. It’s the next best thing to being there.

Though its intrinsic beauty remains, much has changed on The Rock in the past twenty-five years. The site has been officially defined as a Sandstone Pavement Barrens by New York State, which places it at the very top of the list of endangered ecological systems. It is the rarest among the rare, with fewer than twenty similar sites existing around the globe. » More Details

The Battle of Plattsburgh Question & Answer Book

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The Battle of Plattsburgh Question & Answer Book-Front Cover

The Battle of Plattsburgh Question & Answer Book will bring to the reader a wealth of interesting information in a unique and fun style.

For instance, did you know:

  • That Thomas Macdonough once destroyed a famous ship of the United States Navy?
  • That Plattsburgh has an unusual link to Pearl Harbor?
  • That Vermont once minted its own coins?
  • What caused that red glare that Francis Scott Key wrote of in our national anthem?
  • That Thomas Macdonough performed legendary heroic deeds in another war before Plattsburgh?
  • That a famous American forever linked to glory in the War of 1812 was a war protestor?
  • That the rooster story on the Saratoga may have origins related to Thomas Macdonough himself?
  • That President John Quincy Adams promoted Alexander Macomb ahead of two senior ranking generals?

» More Details

Out of the Darkness: In Memory of Lyon Mountain’s Iron Men

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Out of the Darkness-Front Cover

*** Second Edition Now Available ***

Out of the Darkness shines a light of recognition on more than 160 men who died in the iron mines of Lyon Mountain, New York. Who were they? How did they die?

You’ll find the answers here in a 334-page tribute to the men who lost their lives while working for the mining companies.

Drillers, muckers, furnace workers, timbermen – they’re all here. Many suffered horrible, spectacular deaths, as detailed in the newspaper fashion of the day, tending towards graphic, gruesome imagery. There is no shortage of such stories in this book, so be prepared for some intense reading. » More Details

Lyon Mountain: The Tragedy of a Mining Town

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Lyon Mountain: The Tragedy of a Mining Town-Front Cover

The story of Lyon Mountain’s mining days, especially the pre-1920 era, was nearly lost to the ravages of time and attrition. This book ensures the story is preserved for generations to come.

Extensive research, combined with personal interviews conducted by the author a quarter-century ago, have kept the story alive. It is an important story: important to the people, important to county history, and important to New York State history.

The town’s early mining history is detailed from the 1870s through 1919. Subsequent chapters deal with Lyon Mountain’s years as a company town under the thumb (fist?) of J.R. Linney; the town’s immigrant population and its roots; firsthand accounts of mining jobs from long-deceased miners; the riveting story of death in the mines; the remarkable true story of the town’s Mafia-connected years; and finally the story of the North American Champion Bobsled Team and the legendary Lyon Mountain Miners Baseball Team. » More Details

A History of the Altona Flat Rock

A History of the Altona Flat Rock-Front Cover

*** Silver Anniversary Edition Now Available ***

Winner: McMaster's Prize for Historical Writing (1980)

Pine barrens like the one on the Altona Flat Rock are a rarity around the world, existing in relatively few locations. The Altona Flat Rock is a North Country treasure, and was one of the region’s best kept secrets until this publication came out in 1980. Since then, there have been no fewer than five television shows dedicated to the subject, and Plattsburgh State College has become deeply involved in the study of this amazing natural wonder. The Flat Rock here has become an outdoor classroom used regularly by Plattsburgh State professors.

The Clinton County Historical Society, the Adirondack Mountain Club, the Nature Conservancy, and Volksmarch International are among the groups who have accompanied the author on guided tours of the area. With the express permission of the author, the Nature Conservancy used this book to convince the state legislature in Albany to establish the Gadway Pine Barrens Preserve near Cannon Corners, New York. » More Details