Annals of the Beaver River

Donald Kempton Thompson was born ninety years ago on October 20, 1934. He is the sole living member of the third generation of the Beaver River Thompson family. His paternal grandparents, William and Hattie Thompson, moved to the Beaver River country to operate a sportsman’s hotel in 1911 [see my post of 6/2/21]. That’s Hattie Thompson with most of her grandchildren in the photo above. Don is not in that picture because he had not been born yet. Don’s maternal grandparents were Will Kempton [see my post of 8/27/23] and Etta Wagner Kempton [see post of 8/17/23]. We know a great deal about Etta and Will because of the survival of Etta’s remarkable daily journal. Don’s parents were Walter Thompson and Gladys Kempton. Walter was the oldest son of Hattie and William Thompson. Walter’s brother Clinton is the grandfather of the three brothers of the fifth generation of the Thompson family that now operates the Norridgewock [see my post of 10/20/22]. Gladys Kempton, Don’s mother, was the only

The photo above shows me talking to   members of Adirondack Architectural Heritage inside what was once the Norridgewock Hotel saloon. That room played an important part in social life at Beaver River for more than 50 years from 1912 until 1964. Its story deserves to be remembered.   The saloon started out as a rather grand, multipurpose stable. These days livestock is pretty rare in Beaver River, but back in the early decades of the twentieth century  there was a considerable herd in and around the hamlet. There were three small sportsman’s hotels, Elliott’s, Darrow’s and Pop Bullock’s, each of which had at least one team of horses and a cow or two. The Norridgewock Hotel needed a small herd of cows to furnish guests with fresh milk.  Some of the teamsters from nearby lumber camps would occasionally come to town with their horses. In addition to these animals there were a considerable number of wagons and buckboards that needed protection from the weather.   Each hotel had a barn for