‘The welcome committee’
Peggie Allen has seen “the look” that some white people make when they see a Black woman such as her at a mountain or lakeside resort.
It’s a quizzical look, she said, and it says, “What in the world are you doing here?”
Sometimes they even ask out loud, when she’s enjoying the Sagamore Hotel’s views on Lake George or Whiteface Mountain’s ski slopes near Lake Placid.
It’s one of the reasons she prefers to visit the park and other outdoorsy destinations with a group of friends.
“It’s a Black-person-in-America thing,” she said, and it’s especially pronounced in places like the Adirondacks—ruggedly beautiful landscapes often stereotypically viewed as
