The Salute recognizes the recipients of the annual North Country Heritage Awards with an audiovisual profile of each recipient, musical entertainment, and the awards presentation. For 2011 the masters of local traditions are Elaine Dougan, quilter, Potsdam; Jack W. Gray, gunsmith, Lisbon; Floyd Snyder, cedar oil maker, Brushton.

Elaine  Dougan,  Potsdam,  Quilter 
Nearly a century ago, Mildred Munson Newvine taught her young daughter Elaine to quilt at the quilting frame in the parlor of their old farmhouse. Tied quilts, also commonly called comforters, were their specialty. While both tying and quilting can be used to fasten the quilt’s three layers, tying was historically favored in the North Country, as it was faster than quilting and permitted thicker batting (interlining), the better to keep warm in winter’s cold. In the summer, neighbors would gather under the shade of a tree at Elaine’s home to tie off a quilt on the frame, inherited from her grandmother. At age 91, Elaine is now a prolific quilter with a masterful eye for color. She has given more than one hundred quilts to her large extended family and friends, as well as to those in need. She is the informal matriarch of a group of Parishville quilters who gather weekly to socialize while piecing tops and tying quilts in the traditional way.  


Jack Gray, Lisbon, Gunsmith
Jack Gray grew up hunting and trapping with his father, to supplement the living the family made on their dairy farm. This began Jack’s lifelong passion for learning about the local woods and waterways and the creatures that inhabit them. As a boy he began helping his father assemble and repair rifles and shotguns for himself and neighbors. Shortly after his father started Gray’s Gun Shop in 1957, Jack began to work there. Now a master gunsmith, skilled in the intricate work of repairing both new and antique guns, he continues to own and operate Gray’s with his own son. They attract loyal customers from many miles around, some of whom have been regulars for 50 years. The shop has one of the largest inventories in the North Country. It is also a gathering place, where customers can often be found seated on the shop’s old wooden chairs, regaling each other with stories in and out of season.


Floyd Snyder, Brushton, Cedar Oil Maker
One of the oldest woods-related industries in the region, cedar oil production has all but disappeared in recent decades. Made by cutting new growth white cedar twigs, piling them into vats attached to steam boilers, and distilling the aromatic essential oil, cedar oil was once an important seasonal source of cash for many small farmers and woodsmen. Floyd Snyder’s grandfather and father taught him how to make the oil when he was a teenager, and it has been a major occupation of his ever since. Now in his 60s and with his son’s help, he continues to cull young trees from his woodlots, trim the greenery for oil, and make cedar posts. With vintage equipment including two huge wood-fired boilers, they make several hundred pounds of oil each year. Due to foreign competition and new synthetic products, the market has diminished significantly in recent years, but Floyd is dedicated to keeping the process going as long as he can.

Photos by Martha Cooper/TAUNY Archives.

The Salute to North Country Legends, and the related research and field work, are supported by the Thompson-Weatherup Family Charitable Foundation and the Corning Incorporated Foundation.

To learn more about TAUNY's North Country Heritage Awards click here.

For a complete list of past Heritage Award recipients click here.

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