Final ;top The best places to ...
ENJOY A COZY
DINNER
The Great Range
1799 Route 73, Keene
Valley; 518-576-9069 •
“It’s a small place with a
great wine list,” says Banks,
who’s especially fond of the
salmon.
Why I Love ...
the Adirondacks
Author Russell Banks
finds inspiration in the wild
beauty of upstate New
York’s mountain refuge
When he’s not traveling the world on book
tours or consulting with script doctors
about his latest adapted screenplay, novelist Russell Banks can usually be found
at his Adirondack hideaway near Lake
Placid, N. Y.
The New Hampshire native was already
a successful writer when he moved to the
region in 1987, and he found the remote and
mysterious setting of the Adirondack High
Peaks to be an irresistible backdrop for
some of his novels, including Cloudsplitter
and The Reserve.
“I fell in love with the Keene Valley
because it reminded me of New Hamp-
shire in the 1940s,” he says. “I can work
uninterrupted for months, and it’s a place
that immediately became the center for
my imagination.”
From a century-old renovated sugar
shack on the property he shares with his
wife, poet Chase Twichell, Banks churns
out tales that are often complex and laced
with emotional turmoil. The fact that he
has crafted the plotlines of The Sweet Here-
after and A;iction while surrounded by
tranquility doesn’t seem ironic to Banks.
GRAB A CUP
OF COFFEE
Cedar Run Bakery
and Café
Intersection of routes
9N and 73, Keene Valley;
518-576-9929 • The author
can be found there most
mornings, enjoying a cup
of dark roast and a scone
with The New York Times.
APPRECIATE A
PANORAMIC VIEW
Algonquin Mountain
Adirondack Loj trailhead,
Route 73 and Adirondack
Loj Road • “It’s my favorite
for climbing,” Banks says
of the 5,100-foot peak.
“You can see all the way
to Canada and all 125 miles
of Lake Champlain.”
