MILLION - AIRES’ ROW
THE VIEW FROM THE TOP OF LAKE GEORGE’S Prospect Mountain is amazing. You don’t have to take a long, sweaty hike to enjoy it, either, because of the Veterans Memorial Highway that opened in 1969. It is the only scenic drive through the state-owned forest preserve that Laurance Rockefeller built in the Adirondacks. He wanted more, but Harold Hochschild stopped him.
Rockefeller and Hochschild took opposing sides in an argument about what kind of development should be allowed in the Adirondack Park. The argument started in the summer of 1967 and raged for six years. Both men agreed that government should step in to limit large housing developments inside the Blue Line. They disagreed about who should do the job, and how. And their debate became heated when they started talking about the forest preserve. Hochschild made a sour crack about how Laurance’s side wanted to put a luxury hotel on top of Mount Marcy. Laurance’s people accused their opponents of planning a “wilderness museum” off-limits to almost everyone. The argument continued long after the two men left the scene. In fact, you could continue it tonight at any rural North Country bar, if you’re in the mood.
The Rockefeller Brothers
America does not have a royal family, but in the 1960s, the Rockefellers came pretty close. Nelson Rockefeller, perhaps the most powerful governor in the history of
