Hotel Balmoral on Mount McGregor Enter the world of a hotel on Mount McGregor north of the resort village of Saratoga Springs, New York, as it is seen in everyday events that could have happened to a young boy, Patrick, who joins his Irish parents at work in the summer seasons of the Hotel Balmoral in 1883, 1884 and 1885. This book is realistic fiction. Patrick is not a person from the pages of history; however the events he witnesses come from the actual events that likely did happen at Mt. McGregor. In this short volume boyhood adventures and dreams are recorded. Such are the events with which a child can relate and adults with a memory or an imagination can share as well. Later events in his life will show how Patrick's education and career emerge from the things that happen to him at Mt. McGregor. Nineteenth century American values and understandings of the ways that immigrants became Americans are not presented simply as nostalgia, although there is some romanticism about the story. There are lessons to be learned from Patrick and his parents that define options for present day living, education, citizenship, and the humanizing of contemporary American values. Further developments in Patrick's life will appear in future publication of his stories about growing up in Saratoga Springs at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Patrick tells of places, people and events that shaped his life at the village. The hopes, dreams and opportunities he finds in his hometown establish his identity as an American citizen.