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Where did the name Averill come from?
The Averill family and its descendants lived in Sand Lake from its earliest days. Was it named after the family? Where did Park come from? There were also a number of famous early settlers such as Fox, Knowlson and Horton. Why Averill? The answer may be found by looking at the Averill’s history in the Sand Lake area. Who were they? What did they do?
What are the Glassworks?
What are these Amazing Graves that people talk about?
Who is Hazel Drew?
Ice Harvesting
All dairy farmers had an ice house to keep their milk cool and paid 5 cents a cake for lake ice, but an opportunity for more profit was offered by the explosion of cottage building after World War I – vacationers paid 15 cents for 25 pounds or 25 cents for 50 pounds.
For optimum product, the ice had to be 12 inches thick – though it was safe for a horse (the horses were smaller then) to walk on at 3 inches at zero degrees Fahrenheit. Harvesters would score off 32 inch by 22 inch by 12 inch thick blocks that would weigh 300 pounds, and then these they would subdivide into 6 50-pound blocks – just the size for a commercial icebox.
Mills along the Wynantskill
It is hard to imagine, when driving through this quiet hamlet, that Averill Park was at one time a bustling mill town employing over 200 workers. Looking back, Averill Park in the 1800s was called the Hamlet of Sand Lake. Burden Lake Road was named Mill Road, and State Route 43 was the Albany-Sand Lake Plank Road.
If these didn’t help you … visit our History Archive or our Artifact Archive to learn more.