Two Jewish-born Families in the Adirondacks:

Felix Adler and Louis Marshall were accomplished intellectuals and leaders of the Jewish community at the end of the nineteenth century. Their love of nature led to creation of the Felix Adler Trail and the Mt. Marshall landmark in the Adirondacks. But how did the two men and their families shield themselves against the antisemitism they faced? How did the Marshall family deal with flagrant episodes of prejudice permeating the mountain grandeur that they were instrumental in preserving for posterity?

Felix Adler and Louis Marshall were accomplished intellectuals and leaders of the Jewish community at the end of the nineteenth century. Adler was a social reformer, academician and philosophic thinker who helped found the Ethical Culture movement, while Marshall was a lawyer who worked to secure religious and political freedoms for minorities. Both became attached to the pristine wilderness known as the Adirondacks High Peaks range in New York, and their love of nature led to creation of the Felix Adler Trail and Mt. Marshall landmark. But how did the two men and their families shield themselves against the antisemitism they faced? How did the Marshall family deal with flagrant episodes of prejudice permeating the mountain grandeur that they were instrumental in preserving for posterity? This monograph examines the contrasting historical pathways of each paterfamilias and compares their differing belief systems (mainly Jewish-oriented vs. a credo grounded in nondenominational canons of ethical conduct) while acquainting us with various other notable members of their extended families.

Lawrence M. Ginsburg, a native of upstate New York now living in Georgia, is a retired lawyer with an interest in Jewish-American history. He is a graduate of Cornell University and the Syracuse University College of Law and a U.S. Army veteran. His previous publications include two monographs — "Israelites in Blue and Gray: Unchronicled Tales from Two Cities" (University Press of America, 2001) and "Tales of and About Jewish Youth During the Fin-de-siècle Era: An Annotated Gazette for a Transitional Decade in Upstate New York" (University Press of America, 2010) — and an essay, " 'Happyville' Deconstructed: An Over-caricatured Landmark in Southern Jewish History" (South Carolina Review, 2006). He has also authored or co-authored more than two dozen psychoanalytically oriented papers that have appeared in journals in North America, Europe and Israel.