August 26th, 2006
The Peoples Republic of Crumm Mountain is one of those strange Upstate New York mysteries that each day goes unsolved. According to The Peoples Republic of Crumm Mountain website, Crumm Mountain is
And so, the website which supposedly “is the product of a joint effort by the City of Crumm Mountain and various community organizations” begins with a vivid depiction of The Peoples Republic of Crumm Mountain.
“Wedged uncomfortably in the mountains of Upstate NY's Central Leatherstocking region, Crumm Mountain has become notorious as a mecca for freaks, intellectuals, punk rockers, anarchists, and just about anyone disaffected with society in some way, shape, or form. With a rich history steeped in working class action, including several general strikes, and a highly active socialist party, the city continues to lead the proletariat to its destiny with it's current Mayor Stan Grossman, of the Social Democratic Labor Party.”
However, from the very start one begins to doubt if this is actually a town located in Upstate New York. It seemed strange to me that after a Google Maps search for “Crumm Mountain” I couldn’t find anything and it got even weirder when I took a look at the rest of the website for Crumm Mountain.
There are certain things like their “Socio-economic Development” plan, which says that Upstate New York’s model of growth has “pitted cities against one another in an economically devastating race to the bottom.” It goes on to say that:
“The effects of these policy's are embarrassingly on display in upstate NY cities like Schenectady, Amsterdam, Hudson, and Newburgh, among many others. City governments grovel at the feet of business and industry leaders, sparing no effort to accommodate each and every demand they might come up with. Crumm Mountain takes the opposite approach. We are actually enacting policies designed to deter and drive out businesses.”
Then I looked at Crumm Mountains policy towards tourists, which states:
“Well, our policy toward tourists is simple. They suck. They're stupid, they're ugly, and did I mention they SUCK! They walk around cluttering up streets, restaurants, and shops looking for lame little souvenirs to bring back to their lame little homes in their lame little towns, they're just an utter nuisance. Several times I have proposed a city law banning entrance to our city for tourists.”
Does this sound like any town in Upstate New York to you?
So then, the curious minds ask Crumm Mountain – “Who, what, where, when, and why?”
The website for Crumm Mountain contains, almost everything one would ever want to know about the town, except for its exact whereabouts.
If you have any information leading to the further exploration into the depths of Crumm Mountain, the Upstate Community would be happy to hear from you. Perhaps someday, we will be able to unlock the mystery of The Peoples Republic of Crumm Mountain.
11 comments:
Well, if you take a look at the page titled The Welcoming Committee, you see that their Chamber of Commerce had a wee bit of a typo, calling it "Chlymidia Mountain" instead.
I actually found some directions on that page:
Just forty miles west of Albany, 150 miles southeast of Syracuse, and 200 miles north of New York City, Chlymidia Mountain, offers not only a temporary escape from the depressing and dreary conditions of capitalist America but an introduction to alternative thought processes that invite you to change those depressing conditions.
Never mind if that area is reallly the central leatherstocking region (and nestled in mountains), do those mileages converge on one point?
Did I just ruin some kind of web-based performance art/social experiment? Sorry if I did, Crumm Mtn. sounds like a fun place to live.
I think it is here.
In talking with the author about this post, I posited that Crumm Mountain is probably not an actual place...perhaps just a fictitious everytown to make us think about the direction our upstate communities are headed in. Or to pole fun at them ;o) However, it may well be based on a real town (or towns) in the leatherstocking region, so an exploratory road trip may be necessary.
York Staters love exploratory road trips.
I'll be heading out to Syracuse this weekend for some fun times at the Fair, and on the way back Labor Day, fellow york stater Heather and I are planning to take a lovely meandering drive back to the Hudson Valley, and I see no reason that we can't go Crumm Mountain exploring along the way. I've heard a vote for Richmondville as a locale, any other votes on where we should look?
I'll be up in Turin at moe.down this weekend, followed by a week in the St. Regis canoe area so I can cover the Tug Hill Plateau/North Country/Adirondack area.
verplanck, it's supposedly in the leatherstocking region, but share with us what you find.
p.s. have you ever read footsteps through the adirondacks: the verplanck colvin story by nina webb?
Natalie,
You never know with those damn anarchists. They may have moved the thing while we weren't paying attention.
As for the other Verplanck Colvin: yeah, it was a good read. The localness of his story is striking. I grew up at the foot of the Heldebergs outside Albany. His paths and mine have crossed a few times. The Alcove Reservoir, his house on Western Ave, the Heldebergs, etc. I helped out the state surveying the Whitney property (Little Tupper Lake) back in the late 90's and we found some V.C. benchmarks and a cedar stake in a bog from his work up there.
I bought his report on the second survey, and patiently gathering pennies for other survey reports.
I found an isolated commemorative plaque for Colvin in Beaver River, at the end of this trail next to a shooting range. It was a bit random.
Don't be so hard on us anarchists, the average American moves around alot anyway these days. We just do it while wearing black facemasks and drinking organic herbal tea.
The picture of Crumm Mountain City Hall looks remarkably like Partners Trust Bank on Genesee St in Utica!
Well,
Thanks for the help so far in solving the Crumm Mt. mystery.
Those anarchists are mysterious, there could be a hundred more Crumm Mt.'s that no one outside of a select few know about.
Crumm Mt. has some competetion from all those folks who are trying to have Vermont suceed from the nation, thus creating the Second Vermont Republic, this is actually not a joke, but takes place in reality, true that.
I wonder what kind of movement New Yorkers could create if they tried to suceed from the nation... Although, I don't see that happening any time soon, I think one thing is for sure, and is that a lot of folks are very displeased with the current system.
I like how Natalie put it, in terms of not actually being a real location in reality, but rather a reflection upon where Upstate has been and were it could be going, but then again perhaps Crumm Mt. is real...
Well Crumm Mountain Fans, fellow york stater Heather and I went on a long meandering drive through the leatherstocking region, down to Unadilla Forks, then on 51 over to 80 through Cooperstown, and saw no sign of it.
The search continues....
My last name is Adamoschek. Grew up in Fort Plain. (Central New York.) There are only my father's progeny in the country named Adamoschek. Is Edwin Adamoschek of the Palatine county GOP and Crumm Mountain city supervisor candidate from the same Crumm Mountain NY? If so I might have an illegitimate brother around... maybe uncle. Perhaps a son I haven't had yet.
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