The TTT Podcast
Lost Villages of Fort Drum Left Behind for War explores one of the most forgotten chapters of North Country history. Hidden behind the boundaries of Fort Drum are former villages, schools, churches, farms, cemeteries, and communities that disappeared during the military expansion of Pine Camp during World War II. Most people drive past Fort Drum without realizing entire communities once stood where soldiers now train. The Lost Villages of Fort Drum tell the story of families forced to leave, roads that vanished from maps, and a piece of New York history that still survives in old cemeteries, stone foundations, family records, and local memory. •The story of Sterlingville, Woods Mills, Lewisburg, LeRaysville, and Alpina •Forgotten history hidden inside Fort Drum's training grounds Abandoned places and industrial ruins connected to the North Country • The families displaced during the Pine Camp expansion of 1941 Welcome to Triple T Tales, a series exploring forgotten places, strange stories, hidden history, and bizarre truths from the North Country and beyond. Hosted by Beard Laws, these episodes dive into abandoned towns, industrial ruins, eerie backroads, and the kind of stories most people drive past without ever noticing. In this episode, we uncover the real history behind the Lost Villages of Fort Drum. Learn how hundreds of families were displaced, why entire communities disappeared, and what remains hidden behind the fences of one of America's most important military installations. From old iron furnaces and forgotten cemeteries to family photographs and stories passed down through generations, this is a journey into a piece of New York history many people have never heard about. Whether you love North Country history, abandoned places in New York, Adirondack stories, ghost towns, military history, or strange discoveries found on old maps, this episode offers a fascinating look into a forgotten world that once existed just beyond the roads we travel today. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction: The story of North Country villages erased for Fort Drum expansion 00:29 - How and why villages like Sterlingville and Woods Mills were displaced 00:57 - The strategic move to expand Pine Camp into Fort Drum before WWII 01:23 - The history and resilience of early North Country communities 02:23 - Displacement of 525 families and their homes in the 1940s 02:53 - The emotional cost of eminent domain and community loss 03:15 - The transformation of Pine Camp into Fort Drum and military training history 04:12 - The rugged realities of North Country life and family roots in the land 05:11 - The story of Lewisburg and its iron furnace history 06:08 - The significance of towns like Woods Mills and Sterlingville in local history 07:08 - How war efforts shaped and erased small villages in the North Country 07:36 - The expansion of Pine Camp to meet WWII military needs 08:06 - The scale of military maneuvers in the 1930s and the buildup to WWII 09:05 - Iron mines supplying war materials, like Benson mines directly supporting WWII efforts 10:04 - The brutal reality of eminent domain and displacement on a massive scale 11:02 - Personal stories: The Remington family’s fight to keep their home 12:00 - Historic cemeteries remaining within Fort Drum, hosting family graves and stories 13:28 - The importance of family memories and descendants connecting through land records 14:25 - The fading yet persistent memory of Sterlingville and other villages 15:21 - The power of family documents and photographs in reconstructing lost histories 16:20 - The enduring presence of cemeteries as remnants of forgotten communities 17:18 - The remains of Lewisburg and other industrial sites still visible today 18:46 - The connection to LaRay’sville and Alpina, their histories intertwined with iron and war 19:43 - The importance of remembering these communities as more than footnotes in history 20:13 - Cemeteries inside Fort Drum illustrate the emotional and cultural ties to lost villages 21:12 - The challenge and heartbreak of visiting family graves behind gates 22:07 - The rapid military expansion during WWII, erasing communities in months 22:37 - The legacy of Fort Drum’s military training and the erasure of small towns 23:07 - Respecting both the military’s importance and the stories of displaced communities 23:35 - The significance of remembering the lost villages amidst the military history 24:04 - The physical remnants and the symbolic power of personal artifacts and records 24:33 - The idea that history survives in fragments, memories, and hidden stories 25:02 - The unsettling reality: communities were erased because they were deemed useful 25:32 - The larger implications of wartime destruction and the loss of hometowns 26:02 - A call to remember the communities lost beneath the land of Fort Drum 26:32 - Final thoughts: honoring both the history of the land and its people Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
111 afleveringen
Reacties
0Wees de eerste die een reactie plaatst
Meld je nu aan en word lid van de The TTT Podcast community!