Keeseville Waterfront Park Opens to the Public
By Tom French
After over a decade of rehabilitation and restoration, the former Ausable Horse Nail Company site is taking shape for the 21st Century. Originally a complex of several buildings, AARCH purchased the property comprising the stone office building and mill in 2008 when it had outgrown its office in two classrooms of the historic Keeseville Central School (now the Keeseville Civic Center).
A grant from New York State, along with private donations, was leveraged for restoration of the former Ausable Horse Nail Company office building that includes the AARCH offices, a resource library, a gallery, and rental space. At the time of the acquisition, AARCH had also hoped to repurpose the 11,000 square-foot 1849 Stone Mill as a preservation technology training school with artist lofts, apartments, and commercial space. By 2015, this vision had expanded to include a waterfront park next door.
Upstream and adjacent to the Stone Mill was the site of the former Prescott Rolling and Slitting Mill, also known as the Red Mill. By the 1960s, it had evolved into a factory for radio and TV components. AARCH acquired the vacant Red Mill in in 2018 through a gift from The George and Shirley Moore Foundation. The building was collapsing and riddled with asbestos, so AARCH took down the Red Mill in 2020, abating the hazardous materials, and prepared for the first phase of the park’s construction.
After over a decade of working to revitalize the waterfront properties alongside AARCH’s primary work as the Adirondack region’s nonprofit historic preservation organization, it became necessary to find a new steward to rehabilitate the Stone Mill. AARCH sold the office building and Stone Mill to Beth and Brian Stevens in 2022. Since purchasing the property, the Stevenses have begun to revive the historic mill, most notably as an event space for the Keeseville Community Arts Festival.
Meanwhile, AARCH moved forward with the park project next door. In 2023, the Town of Ausable Planning Board approved the final park plan, which was completed in October 2024. The Keeseville Waterfront Park will officially open to the public upon the property’s transfer from AARCH to the Town of Ausable.
The park includes a playground and picnic area as well as pedestrian walkway and interpretive signage from the Anderson Falls Heritage Society. It also features the foundation and basement of the former Red Mill. While the foundation could not be infilled due to budget limitations and structural concerns, the project is anticipated to continue with infill or a platform over the space in Phase 2 under the Town of Ausable’s ownership. For now, the area has been fenced off so that people can admire the remaining structure while enjoying the park.
This $700,000 project came about through the support of many generous funders, including the New York State 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, & Landscape Architecture (now Environmental Design & Research (EDR)) with construction led by Keeseville’s Fuller Excavating.
AARCH is thrilled to open the Keeseville Waterfront Park to the public after over a decade of planning, preparation, fundraising, and construction. The site’s new use gives Keeseville residents and visitors a fresh perspective from the west bank of the Ausable River. Situated in the heart of the community, the park honors Keeseville’s history, highlighting a piece of its industrial roots.
