Yesterday was the gala fundraiser at the Blue Mountain Lake Adirondack Museum. (With another college tuition check looming I kept my bidding on the silent auction pretty low.) They had a wonderful gallery exhibit entitled, "A Wild and Unsettled Country: early reflections of the Adirondacks." This was an outstanding collection of 18th and 19th century maps, engravings, and oil paintings. The Hudson River School of Art was a key factor in the development of a unique strand of American art. However, it was also a key factor in publicizing the mountain landscapes of the Northeast, which in turn helped give birth to the preservation and environmental movements that followed. (Please click on the images to read the text or enjoy a close-up of the art.)