The Monarch butterfly will take you to the Top of the Page!
Learn about Fourpeaks? CLICK HERE to start.
Explore Fourpeaks 700-acre private Vacation/Getaway!
Learn about Fourpeaks? CLICK HERE to start.
  • Meet Your Host
  • Backcountry Cabins
  • 4-Season Activities
  • Private hiking trails
  • Romantic getaway?
  • Pet-friendly vacation
  • Meet Our Guests!
  • Rental Rates/Prices
  • AvailabilityCalendar
    CLICK for a prompt detailed response to your vacation Inquiry.E-Z Inquiry Form
  • Email Us
  • Phone Help Desk
  • Join Mailing List
  • Maps & Directions
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Safety First!  and Guest Information
  • Adirondack Photos
  • Adirondack Poetry
  • An Adirondack Miscellany
  • Personal Potpourri
  • The Fourpeaks Story 1968-present
  • Select Link Pages
  • What's New!  (An Adirondack Blog)
  • Please WAIT! Then SCROLL DOWN for JAY, New York and the OLD COVERED BRIDGE!   [ Are you in this picture? ]
     Original unretouched 1950's souvenir postcard, sold at Madden's Store, Jay with swimming area, Old Covered Bridge, mill store and blacksmith shop. The 'ole swimmin' hole. Jay, New York: Come visit our little town on the East Branch of the AuSable. CLICK & GO!  (On this page.)  A little about Jay History and the Old Covered Bridge.   A personal guided tour of the village and some other places close by.  The ol' swimmin' hole and falls is popular with every visitor.    The New York Times take notice of our AuSable River swimming holes.   After 140 years of service our Covered Bridge has been taken down for repairs.   Our General Stores. We lost 'em both!   Burdick's too! (Retired from the chain saw business.)   More about Jay: The Bridge Controversy, The 200th Birthday Party and Maps to get you around.  Fourpeaks Adirondack Activities. 

    A little history about Jay. Like the other little towns along the East Branch of the AuSable, Jay has been through a series of industrial developments in the 19th century--and come out on the other end as the place of natural beauty we know today.
    High grade iron ore discovered nearby was first smelted in crude stone and clay furnaces with wood and natural drafts. Large scale timber harvesting continued through mid-century. The mill at AuSable converted later to paper manufacture and this operation lasted till the 1940's. Today a sawmill on the heights above the village is the is the sole survivor of this industrial phase. Adirondack Park Agency zoning regulations have, since the 1970's, effectively curbed new development of all kinds. Today, no commercial activity is permitted along the AuSable River Scenic Corridor and Jay is reminiscent of the sleepy New England village of bygone days, with a promising future as a really quiet spot for visitors.

    Hurry up while there's still something left to look at. Two craft shops right in town (plus a few more on the back roads), a B&B, a 9-unit motel with a swimming pool, a bar, a popular chocolate factory and, in the former Methodist Church, the Home Office of Adirondack Life (our Vermont Life-style regional magazine). There's the old-fashion Village Green with interesting granite benches and a gazebo, home of summer music every Saturday evening in the Summer. Bring a blanket or some chairs. And stop to admire the stone church on the hill. CLICK HERE for Jay craft shops contact information at our Activities Nearby page.

     Original unretouched 1950's souvenir postcard, sold at Madden's Store, Jay with swimming area, Old Covered Bridge, mill store and blacksmith shop. The Jay Covered Bridge is close by the former mill site just down from the Green. The rapids there, provide oldtime summer fun. Deep river pools at the far side for swimming and diving and exploring the shady banks upstream. The 1855 Covered Bridge is presently being renovated (1998-99). (CLICK Photofor full size, original unretouched 1950's souvenir postcard, originally sold at Madden's Store, Jay. Shows swimming area, Old Covered Bridge, mill store and blacksmith shop.

    Follow the road past the covered bridge for Rockwell Kent's Aasgard Farm (private) and Ward Lumber Company, a big sawmill operation, the largest (almost the only) employer in town with a retail store for your building/hardware needs. Glen Road starts there for hours of touring, old farm country with vegetables for sale (see the Jay Map).

    Down river is AuSable Forks with a northcountry supermarket, liquor store, drugs, auto supplies and the best river fishing in the area. Follow the river on Route 9N to AuSable Chasm (great walk and canoeing the rapids!) and mall shopping plus good restaurants, food and movies in Plattsburgh.

    "Upriver" toward the Stone Houses is Upper Jay and Keene and the High Peaks trails for ice-hiking and decent food. Upper Jay has a library and a post office and is the site of the Land of Make Believe, a popular attraction in the fifties flooded out by a river that doesn't know its bounds. A sad place, too, because the corner store (was) burnt down a couple of years ago and the space stares at you. Sad, too, because the fish farm restaurant nearby is closed for the time being. The lady who started it up went back to the city for a job and all her hippie friends are gone, too. Dmitri kept it going for years, but he passed away with a bad liver. We all miss the food and fun, the occasional evening spectacles, and we hope someone opens it up soon.

    Wilmington and Whiteface Mountain are just over the notch. (Keep going 10 miles for Lake Placid Olympic attractions, restaurants and shops.)

    The 'ole swimmin' hole.The 'ol swimmin' hole by the falls and covered bridge in Jay is popular with visitors and natives alike. Lots of room to sit and sun on the large flat ledge (rocks) above the falls. And deep swimming holes aplenty. Sliding down the falls is fun for the young at heart. There are huge shade trees along the bank and the old Covered Bridge makes a scenic backdrop. Raspberry in season. Swim upriver in deep water for quite a way. Or meander along the trail on the east bank. (CLICK on Photo for full size image showing summer fun at the Jay swimming hole. plus full text of the New York Times article (August 17, 2001) "Where the Pools Are Never Crowded, And Water Slides Are Nature's Own."

    June 1997. Bridge closed, being dismantled and removed in three sections. BRIDGE DOWN 1997! The old covered bridge that served residents since 1858 was condemned in the Spring of 1997 by Highway officials and removed in August to a resting place on the East bank of the river. A temporary steel bridge has been erected on the site. Will the old bridge be repaired and replaced? Or will a two-lane modern steel and concrete behemoth take its place by the popular swimming hole by the river falls? Here's The Scoop!

    In the village there was a real General Store.
    [April '99 Update. SAD, SAD, SAD. The place got torched. Nobody knows how. Maybe someone will open up at the old Hurley Madden store, closed for years.]
    [July '99 No such luck! The garage mechanic with the grouchy daughter is just building a new convenience store add-on to the garage down the road a ways. Maybe a new twitch in the long tradition of grouchy Northcountry storekeepers! Will keep you posted on any future developments.]
    Cry over this!!
    McDonald's General Store. (Now a thing of the past.) The folks may have seemed dour and uninviting, but that was part of the fun. The store cheese (impossible to get elsewhere) was worth the trip. Buy what you need--without the usual preservatives, it keeps well only a few days. Yummy! Formerly McDonald's, they had it for years. Dan was the postmaster and his Mom was before him. The little office was on the side. The rest was groceries. Liberty got it when Dan retired in 1997 and they built the new Post Office on the highway just out of town. Close by the Jay Green it burnt to the ground in '99 and the empty lot just stares at us.

    Burdicks for Chain Saws and lots more! Burdick Chain Saws, or just Burdick's, was on Route 86. The building still stands with some rusty old machines outside. Burdick's had lots more than chain saws. The workshop/salesroom had the oddest collection of small engine lawn machines, snowblowers and the like. It was an important place for locals and visitors alike for saws, mowers, household items, tools, supplies of all kinds and conversation. You'd find them gathered around the cluttered counter or by the friendly wood fire at all hours any day. "We repair what we sell--and just about everything else as well," was Dale's motto and Meredith his Dad's, too, who had the place before him. Lot's of local color and jokes by Dale. "Bring it if it's broke and pick it up in a day or two," he would say. Opened half day Saturday. Joy got a job at AMA. Bernie's gone to work for the Mountain or Ward's, not sure. Say Hi! if you see them.

    Fourpeaks offers an unequalled private hiking experience. CLICK HERE for more Vacation Activities right here at Fourpeaks. Fourpeaks fishing and swimming in the nearby scenic AuSable River. CLICK HERE for more Vacation Activities right here at Fourpeaks. Fourpeaks offers lots more than just lodgings. Browse our 10 activity pages for scenic river swimming, floating, wilderness canoeing, and fishing the nearby AuSable River. Explore our 20 miles of private hiking/skiing trails, an unequalled nature experience with no people. And just R&R in our accessible wilderness. [CLICK HERE for Fourpeaks Adirondack Activities.]

    .Are you in this picture? CLICK HERE to find out. 
    Are you in this picture? Fourpeaks hosts now welcome paying guests to a 700-acre rest and playground for vacations in the Adirondack Great Camp tradition. Couples appreciate Fourpeaks secluded settings. Outdoor loving families have fun exploring our accessible wilderness. Folks with dogs enjoy the open spaces to run their pets. A private nature rereat. For a vacation away from it all.    Are you in this picture?  CLICK HERE to find out!    [More about this at Frequently Asked Questions.]

  • CLICK for a prompt detailed response to your vacation Inquiry. Inquire about a Fourpeaks Adirondack Vacation/Getaway.   (Easy Inquiry Form.)
  • Email us  with questions or feedback.  Email us with questions or feedback. (Easy Email form.)
  • Phone our Help Desk with Phone help is just a moment away. Tollfree  or Cell phone contact any time. Cell phone contact any time.
  • No time for Fourpeaks right now? Frown!
    'Hints of Balsam and Pine from Our Corner of the Adirondacks.' Keep up with us through occasional newsletters. CLICK for sample.
    "Hints of Balsam and Pine from our Corner of the Adirondacks"
    Join our mailing list!  (Easy form.)
    Get on our mailing list. Join Our Fourpeaks List!
    Please Rate Our Fourpeaks Website. Please Rate Our Fourpeaks Website.Please Rate Our Fourpeaks Website. Whether you're an experienced webmaster or just a novice surfer, you may have feedback or suggestions to help us improve. We well remember the visitor who complained about the unpleasant glare from the HTML default royal blue links. That lead us to entirely revamp our background and link colors, making them softer, more eye pleasing. And the Florida expert who warned us about frustrating visitors with blind links. We followed his advice and now carefully identify links so visitors know before they "click" exactly where they're clicking to. Your comments or suggestions will be equally appreciated. 
    NOTE: If you got here via one of our many subsidiary information pages,  CLICK HERE to get the best view-- from our concise "Home Page." Thanks.  
    [CLICK HERE for easy email form to make your feedback/suggestions.]