Saratoga Springs is about as far away topographically from the desert as one can get. It's magnificently, brilliantly green instead of brown. Huge trees of every variety both evergreen and deciduous cover the lovely worn down hills of the Adirondacks. And water, well, there's water everywhere. Thanks to glaciers scraping back and forth, there are tiny ponds, a network of creeks, rivers (including The Hudson River) and one huge Lake (Lake Champlain). The abundance of navigable bodies of water triggered the history of the area.
When we first arrived here, we encountered a sign which read:
History
Health
Horses
The American history of Saratoga Springs is this is the place of a turning point in our favor in the American Revolution: The Battle of Saratoga.
There's a national battlefield, but I really like the monument
They're pretty serious about Early American History around here. Meet Ken and his personal cannon. Yep, Ken owns his own cannon cast from an original one lost in Lake Champlain in the 18th century. This man is a serious re-enactor. I said, "Ken, why did you buy a cannon?" He replied, "I go to a lot of schools, and it's a great way to teach the American history of this place." Good enough for me, Ken
It didn't take us long to start drinking at the various natural springs dotting Saratoga Springs. Mostly they are all YUCK - super carbonated, iron tasting, sulphur tasting or some disgusting combination. Finally, someone tipped us the best tasting water in the area is from Spring #1, and there are four spigots continually running spring water. There's always three to six people filling everything from personal water bottles to five gallon jugs. And, I can testify, the water is delish. Those other springs, not so much.
However, those other springs were flowing money in the 19th century. As soon as the railroads built lines from Boston and New York, 'spas' and hotels appeared. Entire families arrived for six to eight weeks to take the 'springs cure'. Saratoga Springs as well as surrounding towns such as Ballston Spa cashed in.
A famous prize fighter with discretionary cash arrived in summer time Saratoga Springs to find bored men accompanying their wives, children, or sisters for the cure. Not for long. The prize fighter got together with some heavy hitters in the racing business, and the Saratoga Race Track was born in 1863 one month after the Battle of Gettysburg. They've been racing thoroughbred horses here ever since. The big race, named after Henry Travers (one of the racing heaving hitters) is still raced and named the Travers Race. It's the premiere race of the Saratoga track season.
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| This cup, named "Man O' War" is presented at the Travers Race every August |
An off-shoot of the race track is that Saratoga Springs is the location of National Racing Museum. After visiting, I thought the 'national' designation was a little ambitious, but there were lots of interesting artifacts as well as far too many paintings of famous horses by mundane artists. I was intrigued by the four trophies handed out for the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont. (Yes, I said four.)
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| Kentucky Derby Trophy |
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| Preakness Trophy - isn't this a hoot! |
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| Belmont Plate - kind of boring |
Yes, that's only three trophies, BUT when a horse wins all three, he's a Triple Crown winner and there's a special pyramidal trophy awarded - thus, occasionally, the fourth trophy.
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| Each side represents one of the races in the Triple Crown |
By far the most fascinating exhibit was the genealogical exhibit. Did you know ALL thoroughbred race horses trace back to one of three Arabian stallions and a small variety of 'promising dams' bred in England in the 18th century. Today, 90% of the thoroughbreds can trace their lineage to one of the three stallions - the one who was 'FAST'. Look at this chart!
We've discovered there should be a fourth "H" on the sign, and it should read "Heifer". Surrounding Saratoga Springs are farms, a few horse farms, but lots and lots of dairy farms.
We actually took a 'Cheese Tour' around rural upstate New York. In my fridge right now, there's about half a dozen types of cheese as well as a pint of maple walnut ice cream. These farms look like picture postcards. Many of the barns and houses date back to the late 18th century or early 19th century.
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| Notice how the bricks are handmade |
I had to laugh. An older woman at this farm selling doughnuts confided HER house just down the road was twenty five years older.
The fifth "H" on the Saratoga Springs sign should be "Heritage". There are wonderful houses here. Some date back to the 18th century. Mostly, though, the town was built in the 19th century. We found some wonderful examples of architecture here.
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| That's Drake with the 'other' Jan Sartor |
The house above dates from the 1820's. Here's another one from the Victorian era in the French Empire style.
And, here's a Federalist house from the late 1700's.
However, when it's all said and done, Saratoga Springs defines itself by its horses.
We've loved living here. The apartments have been nice, and Drake's had a garage. The food has been excellent, especially if you love Italian. I also perfected a recipe here: Maine Lobster Rolls. Maine's version uses no mayo or celery. The lobster is sauteed in flavored butter and served on those weird hot dog buns which look like a folded piece of white bread. Yum! The one food downfall was no matter how many places we tried, there's NO MEXICAN FOOD HERE!!!! I'm about to die from craving Tex/Mex.
What initially attracted us to this place were the cultural performances. We've seen five ballet performances by the New York City Ballet. We've seen four performances by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, and we've seen six performances by the Lincoln Center Chamber Society. With the exception of one ballet which, as we watched, we realized we've always hated, all the performances were wonderful.
Time to pull up my galoshes and get ready to leave, and we've so needed them. It's rained constantly for the past four months with the accompanying high humidity. Everyone up here has complained loudly about the summer weather. I just thought I was living in summertime New Orleans. Otherwise, we are sad to leave especially since we are on countdown: Just over 30 days to wait, and Lucky will be here!
