| | Xydexx: Getting Drunk On HistoryAs I mentioned over on my LiveJournal, I'm researching the locations of former milestones along the Albany Post Road in New York. It is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle.
Milestone 26 I was already familiar with back from my high school days. The milestone is fairly easy to find on the campus of Mercy College on the Irvington-Dobbs Ferry border.
Rob Yasinsac of Hudson Valley Ruins found Milestone 27 in Irvington, which is embedded in a wall just north of Station Road. He also found Milestone 28, which is currently located in front of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow. That's a big jump from its original location, which according to the 1789 atlas A Survey of the Roads of the United States of America by Christopher Coller, would have been located less than a quarter mile north of a road to White Plains (marked "A" on the atlas). This would be present-day East Sunnyside Avenue, on the Tarrytown-Irvington border.
Milestone 29 is going to be tricky to find, if it still exists at all. According to the 1789 atlas, it was located at an intersection marked "C", which I have determined to be White Plains Road. Just south of there is an intersection marked "B" (which I have determined to be Sheldon Avenue) and a bridge across a small stream immediately south of it. Two houses, on the west side of the road north and south of Milestone 29, are marked "Van Weart". On the east side of the road near "B" is a symbol for a blacksmith's shop.
It's interesting how many details remain after 200 years. Albany Post Road, aside from being straightened out here and there, still uses much of the same route. The small stream that passed under the bridge is still there, although re-routed a bit due to the office parks that have sprouted up on either side of it. Also of note is what appears to be an old bridge on Google's satellite view (west side of Route 9, across from the apparent car dealership). And the Van Weart estate has yielded to a group of single-family homes located along "Van Wart Avenue."
As to Milestone 29, I suspect it will be difficult to find. The area surrounding the intersection with White Plains Road has been heavily developed over the past two centuries. The corners of the intersection have been disturbed by a bank and shopping center, a gas station, and the New York State Thruway and associated entrance ramps.
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| | Posted 3/24/2008 9:28 PM - 0 comments
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