Old Forge Hardware 1960’s

The Old Forge Hardware Co. is probably the only really worthwhile place to shop in Old Forge. We walk around town often, looking for a place to browse and something to buy for the house. We always end up at the Hardware, with its long aisles of interesting goods, puzzles and tools and pack baskets. Kitchen tools. Everything. It is a quirky place, less so than it used to be, unfortunately, but still a place with a history and a certain charm and lots of character.

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Good Adirondack Advice at the OF Hardware

This sign hangs in the Old Forge Harware. The OFH is certainly the best place to shop and spend a rainy day in Old Forge. It’s a truly old fashioned general store, with ancient wood floors that creak as you walk across them, and a surprise around every corner. We like to visit the store often to talk with our favorite sales person, Jimmy, who mans the front cash register faithfully. He knows everything in the store and everything about anything to do with building, hardware, maintenance and Adirondack lore. So it’s an experience not only about buying cool stuff, but about visiting with friends. Sarah Cohen and her sister Linda Cohen, the owners of the store, founded by their great-grandfather (I think), Moses Cohen. It is a family owned store in an era of bland, concrete, impersonal “super” stores, like Wal-Mart and Target. In some respects, it reminds me of a little old sandwich shop that died a long, slow death in Ann Arbor, Michigan, called Drake’s. Drake’s was the same when my parents attended the University of Michigan as it was when I did so, many years later. But, in the end, it could not stand up to Starbuck’s and the other faster, more efficient places that take credit cards and have websites. But the Old Forge Hardware is still kicking. We hope it doesn’t suffer the fate of Drake’s and that it continues to serve and entertain visitors for many years into the Adirondack future.

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Let the Adirondack Bells Ring

This bell has been hanging on the exterior of the main lodge at Penwood for as long as I can remember. At least since the 60’s, but probably before. I think it was meant as a dinner bell – to call the loungers by the water, at the dock and at the beach to come up to the house. Last summer, we rejuvenated it by adding a strip of knotted leather as a pull with which to ring the bell. We don’t use it any more than we did before, but we could, and it looks rustic and – well, Adirondack. The Old Forge Hardware sells strips of leather cheaply. (They also sell a lot of other great things, from books to yarn, furniture, Adirondack souvenirs, and games. The last time I visited, there was a great selection of heavy iron puzzles, the kind you can put on a coffee table and let the guests go to it. Anyway, if you have not been there, you should go: the Old Forge Hardware is on Main Street in Old Forge.) Ding!

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