The Diminutive Engine Wheezed Along - 07/17/2013

Historic site's recurring "Porch Chat" lecture series

Once upon a time, a railroad ran from Saratoga to Mount McGregor.  Narrow gauge and ten miles long, it was completed in just three months and was touted as an engineering marvel.  Marvelous, too, was W.J. Arkell, the cantankerous, opinionated, and witty Canajoharie millionaire who orchestrated the railroad's construction.  It was his railroad that brought General Grant to Grant Cottage, and carried the General's body on the first part of its somber journey to its final resting place.  Join local historian and Grant Cottage tour guide Steve Trimm as he talks about the railroad and W.J. Arkell, the eccentric and brilliant Gilded Age businessman who made the railroad a reality.