People Near Here

Collection Summary

People Near Here is a series produced by Mountain Lake PBS in Plattsburgh, NY which focuses on unique people and places in the Adirondack region, the Lake Champlain Valley, and Canada. The 47 episodes in the collection span the entire four seasons of the show and have been digitized and made available on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting website. Hosted by Derek Muirden, who also acted as the series’ producer and writer, People Near Here profiles “ordinary people living extraordinary lives.” Mountain Lake PBS serves communities in Northern New York, Vermont, Quebec, and Ontario, providing educational programming as well as content geared towards regional events, history, and heritage. The series profiles artists, historians, botanists, and pilots, and more. Real life characters spotlighted in People Near Here include Arto Monaco, artist, toy designer, and visionary creator of theme parks around the Northeast; Kathy Hoffman, one of the few female refueling boom operators in the US Air Force; Ed Cotter, caretaker of abolitionist John Brown’s home in North Elba, NY; ice fishers on Lake Champlain; Ted Spencer, curator of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY; and gardener Becky Harblin of Pottsdam, NY, who uses common weeds to create baskets, food, and medicine. Subjects in this collection include history, art, recreation, music, science, nature, wildlife, tourism, sports, cooking, and architecture.