Reinforcing Ticonderoga
Wearing a black-and-red flannel shirt, Amanda Slattery hustled behind the bar at the Burgoyne Grill at the Best Western hotel on the outskirts of Ticonderoga. She works at the lounge five nights a week in this historic town on the eastern edge of the Adirondacks.
On Sundays, Slattery also pours drinks at the Knights of Columbus hall, one of the few watering holes downtown.
And three afternoons during the warmer months, Slattery mixes cocktails at Emerald’s II, a seasonal restaurant. Slattery, 32, joked that she has three jobs—one for each of her children.
Like her town, which trades on American history and tourism, she is getting by.
Like many of her friends, relatives and neighbors, she dreams of a stronger economic future.
A host of Ticonderoga believers is striving for that same goal, and battling obstacles.
Good-paying jobs are scarce outside of paper mill employment, and a series of fires torched some of the town’s assets and dampened morale. “It was so devastating,” Slattery said, recalling the blaze that destroyed Emerald’s, a restaurant at the Ticonderoga Golf Course. That eatery and the entire clubhouse and pro shop burned to the ground in May 2018.
Emerald’s II opened down 9N from the golf course beside the historic Adirondack Lanes. Then the bowling alley erupted in an early-morning conflagration on Dec. 15, 2019. Its 10 lanes were lost in the ashes, along with
