Mary Landon MacKenzie's
Collected Poetry: 1931-1937 

These 151 poems were written by Mary Landon MacKenzie, the late official historian of North Elba township and the village of Lake Placid.

Mary died in the spring of 2003 at the age of 89. She was known among those interested in regional history as an energetic, rigorous researcher and imaginative prose stylist. Besides her reputation as a prolific, highly respected local historian, Mary was also known as a lifelong hiker and ADK member, an amateur geologist, and a renowned gardener.

Her family and friends, however, did not know everything about Mary Landon MacKenzie. After she died we made a surprising discovery: There, in a drawer in her desk, was a large bundle of carefully typed poems, nearly all of them written between 1931 and 1937, from Mary Landon’s late teens into her early twenties. Many of the poems were, of course, merely interesting -- but many were deep and surprisingly well-written, or so it seemed at least to those who loved her.

-- from Lee Manchester's "Forward"