KEESEVILLE — Adirondack Architectural Heritage and the Town of Ausable announced the opening of the new Keeseville Waterfront Park on Ausable Street with a ribbon-cutting, Wednesday.
“Following years of planning, preparation, fundraising, and construction, AARCH has gifted the Keeseville Waterfront Park to the Town of Ausable for public use,” a press release stated.
The Park sits on the site of the former Prescott Rolling and Slitting Mill (also known as the Red Mill), which had been vacant for years prior to AARCH’s acquisition of the site in 2018 through a gift from The George and Shirley Moore Foundation, according to the release.
AARCH took down the deteriorating Red Mill and abated the hazardous materials in 2020 to prepare for the first phase of the park’s construction, the release stated.
Work on the site began in the fall of 2023, with design led by EDR, and was completed in 2024.
The Keeseville Waterfront Park is now open to the public upon the property’s transfer from AARCH to the Town of Ausable. Those interested can read more about the project on AARCH’s blog, aarch.org
The park includes a playground and picnic area as well as pedestrian walkway and interpretive signage from Anderson Falls Heritage Society. “While the foundation and basement of the former Red Mill could not be infilled due to budget limitations and structural concerns, AARCH anticipates continuation of the project with infill or a platform over the basement space by the Town of Ausable in Phase 2,” the release stated.
“The Keeseville Waterfront Park represents a true community effort that honors Keeseville’s industrial past while creating a vibrant public place for its future,” Adirondack Architectural Heritage Executive Director Erin Tobin said in the prepared statement. “AARCH is deeply grateful to our partners and funders for making this transformation possible, and we are proud to have brought new life to this space for the Town of Ausable to use for generations to come.”
Town of Ausable Supervisor Tim Bresett said, “The Keeseville Waterfront Park will be a wonderful asset for residents and tourists alike. It is a beautiful location on the Ausable River that will not only provide stunning views of the river and Anderson Falls, but it’ll also be a great setting for future community events. We appreciate AARCH’s efforts to repurpose the site into something we will all enjoy.”
“This $700,000 project came about through the support of many generous funders including the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation; the Cloudsplitter Foundation; the Adirondack Foundation’s Generous Acts Program; the Johnson Family Foundation; Beth and Brian Stevens; the Lake Champlain Basin Program; and the Charles R. Wood Foundation. The design was provided by Elan Planning, Design and Landscape Architecture (now Environmental Design & Research) with construction led by Keeseville’s Fuller Excavating, the release stated.