The wild beauty of the Adirondacks attracted artists as much as it did sportsmen, and they began to sketch and paint the region early in the nineteenth century. Thomas Cole, a founder of the Hudson River School, followed his favorite river as far north as Schroon Lake, west of upper Lake George, and painted it (above) in 1846. This was one of the earlier-settled areas in the Adirondacks, but it edged on the wilderness; as Cole observed: “We stand on the border of a cultivated plain and look into the heart of nature.” Most of the pictures that follow show wilder aspects of the Adirondack scene; they also suggest why the region became so popular. AMERICAN HERITAGE wishes particularly to thank the Adirondack Museum for generous help in gathering this portfolio.