In the mid 1800's, Diggard's parents immigrate from England to the United States in search of a new life. Diggard is the oldest of six children born to Charles and Emily Hadley. After purchasing a farm in Summit Township in Western Pennsylvania, Diggard, at the age of 15, leaves home in search of his own adventures in the upstate mountains of the Adirondacks. He works at Howard Bennett's Mercantile for a few years before taking a train heading to the wilds "up North." He meets a wealthy publisher, Prescott Cunningham, in Saranac Lake, who is planning to construct a Great Camp on the shores of Lower St. Regis Lake in the Town of Brighton, Franklin County, New York. Years are spent learning and assisting in building the Great Camp Thornwall and is completed in 1899. Noticing the Paul Smith's Grand Hotel across the lake, Diggard enquires about work from the owner Paul Smith, a wealthy entrepreneur of the north. Diggard is hired as a hunting, fishing, and mountain guide. He becomes proficient in his trade and becomes a legend in his own right. Years pass and Diggard meets Lily Marie O'Connell from the local town of Bloomingdale. Lily worked in the restaurant at the Grand Hotel. Love takes its course and they are married at the Grand Hotel in 1910. They desire to be owners of their own Adirondack Lodge, and they embark on the creation of the Loon Lake Lodge several miles from Paul Smith's Grand Hotel with the assistance of Paul Smith himself. Paul donated several acres to Diggard and Lily as a wedding present on the shores of Loon Lake. Diggard and Lily have twin boys, Christopher and Daniel who grow up in the Adirondack fashion of hunting, fishing, trapping and hotel lifestyle. Paul Smith passes away in 1912 leaving Diggard and Lily to their fate. Paul's surviving sons, Paul Jr. and Phelps take over the Grand Hotel before tragedy strikes and the hotel is lost to fire in 1930. Diggard with son, Daniel, discover there are Forty-Six High Peaks in the Adirondack Mountains from mountaineers Herbert Clark, Bob Marshall, and George Marshall. Son Christopher is off at Cornell University. As Diggard and Lily plan a special Christmas family reunion, tragedy strikes. Diggard is lost and retreats to the seclusion of the only thing he knows, the wilds of the Adirondacks. His friends and family try their best to pull him out of his depression but he sinks only lower. He's a simple man with simple needs and has learned, through the years, how to survive in the wilderness. He constructs a simple, yet, comfortable homestead cabin not far from the old Paul Smith's Grand Hotel and Camp Thornwall owned by Prescott Cunningham, which he helped construct back in 1899. Eliza Bartlett, a local writer wanders into his camp in search of the man, the locals call "Diggard." Their simple friendship, over the years help Diggard deal with his loss and where he is in his life. Not too long after, a couple of young adventurers, Lizzy Cunningham, the Great Granddaughter of Prescott Cunningham l, along with Luke Barnetti, the son of the Camp Thornwall caretaker, search out and befriend Diggard. Diggard entertains the two adventurers with story-telling, violin music, and Adirondack crafts. Diggards' story is one of family, dedication, tenacity, and love for the Adirondack Mountains of New York.