June Hartwell
Editor, water and town desks
June edits Virtual Upstate and files from whichever shore has the best light. Her beats are the lake itself, town life between tourist seasons, and this journal's weekly condition logs. She came to regional journalism the ordinary way: childhood summers counting ferry arrivals became an adult inability to stop noticing them.
Her desk rules are published openly under editorial policy: observe first, publish same-week, correct visibly. Readers can reach her through the contact page; corrections receive priority over compliments, though both get read aloud at lunch.
June also keeps the practical boundary between a guide and a promise. A seasonal pattern can be explained; a current opening, trail condition or business detail must be checked at the source. That distinction shapes the lake desk, the planning pages and every dated note she signs.
Recent pieces by June
Claiming September's Quiet Window
Today's entry, published the same week as school buses return: seventeen unhurried days between the holiday crush and leaf traffic, worth defending loudly.
Field Note: Late August on the Water
This journal exists for entries exactly like this one: a morning spent reading glass and ripple, logged while specifics remain fresh.
How the Great Camps Taught Wood to Pose
The signature Adirondack building does not fight the forest; it auditions it. Bark sheeting, root-rail balustrades, and fireplaces you could park a wagon in.
Steamboats, Summer Money, and Millionaires' Row
Two nineteenth-century inventions shape the shoreline you see today: the steam excursion and the fortune that bought a cottage big enough to need staff.