“What’s in a name?”
(Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet)
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The Northway name and mountain logo are particularly meaningful to me, personally.
I grew up in the city and town of Plattsburgh, at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains on the western shores of Lake Champlain, a short distance from the Canadian border at the very northeast corner of New York State. Known affectionately as the "North Country," it is a spectacularly beautiful spot physically, even in the few months when the climate can be, well, less than welcoming. It will always be, for me, a favorite destination, a place of happiness and fulfillment.
The road to that destination (literally) is Interstate 87. The portion of I-87 which runs from Albany to Plattsburgh is called the Adirondack Northway. Northway thus is, to me, synonymous with the most direct route to a destination of great personal significance.
My family has another, very special connection with the Northway.
In 1954, my father, James A. (Jim) FitzPatrick, then a New York State Assemblyman, introduced the bill that established the Northway as we know it, and approved the funds necessary for its construction. He is credited as the author of its name -- a combined reference to the New York Thruway to which it is connected, and the direction one would travel to reach the Adirondacks -- and was present with Governor Nelson Rockefeller at its dedication in 1961. On his death in 1988, he was eulogized as "the father of the Northway."
Finally, on the most fundamental level, our name and logo are meant to symbolize the upward, positive (northward) path to achieving whatever one’s individual personal definition of success might be. We look forward to being your partner and companion on that journey.
Dan FitzPatrick
