More than 70 years ago, Fred Lape transformed his family’s Oak Nose Farm into the Landis Arboretum and a haven for artists with the help of his friend George Landis and others. As one might expect, books – including Lape’s collections of poetry – fueled their love of the arts.
If you’ve been to the Arboretum for a solitary hike, family picnic, or a Full Moon concert, you may have yet to discover our used book store, housing an impressive range of yesterday’s classics and contemporary works, fiction and non-fiction, in any number of categories. Located in our historic Barn beyond the colorful quilt mural and the sundial, the Book Store had been only open during special events like our plant sales – until the summer of 2021.
Our resident “bookie” Sue Tricario established the Second Saturday Used Book Sales, from 10 AM to 2 PM, June through October (the latter, weather permitting).
A small cadre of Landis volunteers staffed the book sales that first summer, and those second Saturday sales enjoyed great success, followed by another excellent turnout this year. Word has spread: once again Landis is a destination – for booklovers.
We attract repeat customers like Heather and her son Ben from Altamont. They were joined by Grandma Linda who posted on our Facebook page: “After buying books we went hiking on the trails for an hour. So much fun.”
It's a great outing for families. Amber and M.J. drove over from Rotterdam after discovering that Landis was voted The # 1 Place to Take Kids in the Capital Region by readers of the KidsOutAndAbout.com website. M.J. did a thorough search of our shelves and boxes, and both mother and son were pleased to go home with the books of their choice.
We also had visitors who came because they saw our local signage, online postings, or an open door as they hiked the Arboretum’s trails or checked out the new Shanti Vun Meditation Garden, a short stroll from the Barn. Some, like Jim from the Saratoga area, sported cameras for birding or taking some photos of the spectacular Landis scenery.
All our books are acquired through the generous donations of our Arboretum members and friends. Books of all genres, gardening, of course, but also many others, including children’s books, soft and hard covers, scholarly tomes from the 1800’s, to yesterday’s garage sale finds. Novels, field guides, cookbooks, pre-YouTube how-to books. The proverbial “something for everyone”. Rich and Christine, proprietors of Storied Café in Scotia, spent the better part of the afternoon choosing a fine selection of vintage and other titles for the carefully curated shelves at their shop. “It’s a treasure hunt,” Rich noted, “It’s a good selection but not overwhelming…there’s a section for everything…just enough”. Sometimes the book tells its own story, through a note left inside or an inscription to a dear friend. “We found three books by the same author given as a Christmas gift,“ Christine remarked.
Just as the books come in by donation, all sales are, in turn, by donation. Give what you can to help our non-profit Arboretum continue to serve you and your family, now and in the future. All in the spirit of bibliophiles like our founder, Fred Lape.
After you’ve selected your books, be sure to step behind the Barn and complete your own transformation into a monarch butterfly or a mighty stag by visiting our photo ops, perfect for families. If you wish, post your pictures on our website or Facebook page.
Check below to see some of our friends who came to the Second Saturday Book Sales this year. We hope you'll be among our visitors next year!
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