Folklore Home ~ Foreword to River Stories Akwesasne ~ Alexandria Bay ~ Cape Vincent ~ Clayton Massena ~ Morristown ~ Ogdensburg ~ Waddington
	Before the days of television and the internet, people told stories as a way of sharing their experiences with others. For people who live along the St. Lawrence River, life has always been a challenge. Surviving the harsh North Country climate, making a living where there's chronic economic depression, and living on an international border have provided plenty of experiences worth retelling. A local folklore of reminiscences, tall tales and legends involving stories of hunting and trapping, guides and game wardens, outlaws, boatbuilders, bootleggers and storms has made a lively oral narrative tradition that needs to be recorded and preserved. For 'The River' Project, folklorists from Traditional Arts in Upstate New York [TAUNY] have interviewed and recorded over 40 individuals--from Cape Vincent and the 1000 Islands to the St. Lawrence Seaway and Akwesasne-who have been identified in their communities as "good storytellers." This site contains a selection of these storytellers, the edited text of stories and audio field recordings of stories from the TAUNY Archives.
		For further information about 'The River' Project or for permission to use any of these copyrighted materials, see the Credits and Materials Use section of this site. ©2001 Traditional Arts in Upstate New York