Plaque.

Tuberculin Rabbit Shrine

Died 1876 - Paul Smiths, New York

On Rabbit Island, on Upper Saint Regis Lake, there is a plaque bolted to a rock, known as the Tuberculin Rabbit Shrine. The shrine was commemorated in 1972, and honors Edward Livingston Trudeau, a man who injected rabbits with tuberculosis in the 1880s. By leaving them on the island, he discovered "the importance of environment" in treating the disease. Rabbit Island is privately owned and "tourists aren't encouraged."

Edward Trudeau was the great-grandfather of Gary "Doonsbury" Trudeau.

The colony of rabbits that gave their lives to fight human disease have not been forgotten. Everyone who was anyone in Upper St. Regis Lake attended the 1972 dedication of the Tuberculin Rabbit Monument.

Tuberculin Rabbit Shrine:
Address: Heron Lane, Paul Smiths, NY [Show Map]
Directions: From the jct of Hwys 30 and 86 in Brighton/Paul Smith's, take Hwy 30 south 2-3 miles. Right on Heron Lane. This dead ends on the spit of land between Spitfire Lake (on the right) and Upper St. Regis Lake (on the left). The small island should be dead ahead.

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