Aug. 20 marked the 200th birthday of Apollos Austin Smith, better known as Paul Smith. Paul was born in Vermont, came to the Adirondacks to work as a guide as a teenager, and in 1859, opened his hotel on Lower St. Regis Lake. He was a wonderful host and storyteller, and Paul Smith’s hotel grew by leaps and bounds over the years. He’s pictured here with Elizabeth Milbank Anderson, one of the major underwriters of Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau’s work at the Saranac Laboratory. Dr. Trudeau first returned to Paul Smith’s to recover his health in 1873, and the rest, as they say, is history. Happy birthday, Paul! (Photograph courtesy of the Paul Smith’s College Joan Weill Adirondack Library Archives.)