In the 1860s, deep-seated differences between the social structure and economy of north and south sections of the U.S., most notably over slavery, led to the South forming a Confederacy. The purpose was the seceding of the southern states, in which the Confederacy sought to establish itself as a separate nation. This attempt was resisted by the northern states (Union), which didn’t want to see our nation divided. From 1861 to 1865, a civil war occurred, also known as the “War Between the States.” It would become the most serious test yet of the ability of the U.S. to remain one nation.
Most of the battles were fought in the South, with the exception of the Battle of Gettysburg, and the war ended in the South in 1865 with Robert E. Lee’s surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant. According to records, most Franklin County men belonged to the 16th N.Y. Volunteer Infantry – 2,042 men served in the Civil War and 461 of these lost their lives defending the Union.
Among the first enlistees here were four brothers, members of the Charbonneau aka Cole family, who were the first settlers here in the 1840s. That they survived four years of that ugly war can possibly be attributed to the fact that living alone as the only settlers, the Charbonneau family were survivors. Living off the land as hunters and gatherers, they would have developed marksmanship skills and the ability and fortitude to weather the great hardships and rigors of pioneer life that would have made them excellent soldiers.
Still, we can only imagine the cultural shock and amazement of someone who was raised in a bark shanty along the Racquette River finding themselves thousands of miles from the Adirondack wilds and among the plantations and grand homes of the deep South.
In 1864, shortly before the Civil War ended, two young men from Moody, George McBride and Hiram Averill, enlisted in the Union army. They went by boat up the Racquette River to the Upper Saranac Lake/Lower Saranac Lake carry route to Saranac Village. From there, they went by stagecoach to Ticonderoga and ultimately to training camps in Albany. The war ended some months later in 1865, before either boy was called to the front, and they were soon discharged from the service. When McBride returned to Moody, he bought a piece of land near the foot of Big Tupper Lake from Cort Moody, one of the earliest pioneers in this section. George McBride came to Tupper Lake in 1856 and is listed among the first five settlers. He died in 1915 at age 80. McBride Pond between Lake Simond and Little Simond was named for George. His son, Jim, was born in Tupper Lake in 1863 and became a prominent surveyor who surveyed most of the village of Tupper Lake.
When I was growing up in this community in the late 1930s, only two veterans of the Civil War remained in residence here: Charles Dwight and Charles Cote Sr. I have been told that Mr. Cote had enlisted under the name of Side, which is the French meaning for Cote, when his father would not give him consent to enlist. Originally from Potsdam, Mr. Cote lived all of his late years in Tupper Lake and still has descendants here. In a cruel twist of fate, Mr. Dwight, who had lived through the bitter horrors of that war, was killed here by an automobile on Sears Hills. Note: Many older residents will remember the beautiful Dwight home that sits up on the ledge at the corner of Cheney and Vachereau.
The Dwight family consisted of Dorothy, Warren and Roland. We were neighbors. I was raised in the large apartment over my father’s ice cream and beverage bottling plant located on the corner of Vachereau and High Street. One of the chores delegated by my mother was to take turns with my brother drying the dishes before rushing off to school (sweeping the front stairs and emptying the garbage were the alternate chores). The second-story kitchen window looked out to the sidewalk on Vachereau, and on a regular basis each morning, I would observe an attractive Dorothy Dwight hurrying to meet the OWD wooden-sided Ford station wagon on the Park Street corner (remember those Woodies?) that would transport the office staff to the OWD administrative building on Demars Boulevard, today the town hall. If I remember correctly, Kenny Brunette’s father, Gene, was the longtime chauffeur, and Dorothy was the personal secretary to Gerald Hull, the president of the OWD firm. She would later marry “the boss.”
Living over the ice cream plant had its advantages. My father was an excellent ice cream maker. Following what was known as the Agriculture Short Course at Cornell, he was employed by the General Ice Cream Company in Rutland, Vt., before locating in Tupper Lake. He knew his craft and took great pride in Frenette’s Ice Cream. He also distributed a popular brand called Fro-Joy and a delicious silver-wrapped chocolate ice cream bar called the Eskimo Pie. Most drug stores in those days had a soda fountain where you could buy ice cream sodas, sundaes, milkshakes or ice cream placed in a wafer cone. Frenette’s Ice Cream was distributed in steel tubs that fit exactly in several refrigerated compartments at the fountain, two tubs high, conveniently placed for access by the “soda jerk.” A well of circulating water served to keep the ice cream scoop clean. A moveable bar controlled by a thumb lever moved the bar along to the inside of the scoop, freeing the ice cream. A special detachable handle would grip a raised rig on the steel tub for carrying, replacing and removing the tubs from the refrigerated compartments. Most of the drug store fountain sections would have high stools along the front of the fountain. Usually booths, tables and chairs could be found within the vicinity. These were popular meeting places for young and old alike and a primary outlet for Frenette’s Ice Cream. In my day, local customers would have been Cohn’s Pharmacy in the Junction and, uptown along Park Street, Harvey’s Pharmacy, Monakey’s Pharmacy (People’s Pharmacy) and Maid’s Pharmacy.
I recently ran across a file with my father’s ice cream recipes. Here are the ingredients listed for “Charlie’s French Vanilla”:
2
dozen egg yolks
5 gallons
of 25 percent cream
1 ounce
gelatin
1 ounce
salt
Heat egg in one gallon of cream to 160 degrees F. Cool. Add balance of
mix. Freeze and sell for $1 per quart.