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New Updates
- May 2003. Found Milestone 39, though it is
partially damaged.
- Timothy Leonard of Granville was a Candidate for NY
Senate in 1799.
- To see some articles that appeared in
newspapers/books about the turnpike click
here
- I finally confirmed that the Turnpike was over 50
miles by reading an article
in the 1799 Lansingburgh Gazette.
- Mile 36 marker found at corner of Brook Road and Rt
22 in Salem.
- Troy Times
Article, dated 1923, remembering the turnpike
plus some other historical information, including some Native American
information from the area. Covers mostly the Rensselaer County portion
of the Turnpike.
- The legal document
that made the Northern Turnpike
into a coproration is now online. look for it by clicking here
It is
interesting of the mention of a Buskirk bridge already in place before
the turnpike.
- 1802
additional Legal Document that talks about
another turnpike road off of the Northern Turnpike from someplace in
Pittstown
to the Vermont border. I believe this to be the Tomhannock Turnpike
that
is sometimes the name for Otter Creek Road, but I would like to confirm
this sometime.
- In Granville there were two turnpikes that went
farther north. One went
to Whitehall possibly known as the Upper Turnpike [and even this could
have had two routes or been two separate turnpikes], and the other to
the
Vermont border through Hampton to connect to a turnpike which went
eventually
to Burlington, VT.
- I plan to sometime put a list of the shunpikes that
were used to avoid
paying of the tolls.
Logistics of the road
The Northern Turnpike is over 50 miles from north of, at the time,
Lansingburgh,
NY to south of the village of Granville, NY. It started approximately
where
Testo's restaurant is in Lansingburgh, this is at the southwest corner
of 124th St and 4th Ave. It is important to note that at the time of
the
building of the turnpike, this point was not in Lansingburgh, as the
free
road went in the same direction to what is now 2nd ave. and then you
went
south on this road to Lansingburgh, which was between present day 111th
and 115th.
The road went up Northern Drive, and Oil Mill
Hill and Brickyard
Road, then up to Route 40. Imagine if northern Drive did not bend right
before Oil Mill Hill and went straight up the hill at even level with
the
train tracks which would be built at a later time. [Note that these
train
tracks eventually became an overpass] It followed Route 40 up to Grants
Hollow where the turnpike did go through Grant's Hollow. The road
continued
to Melrose and went on Melrose-Valley Falls road. This was previously
designated
as County Rt 5 and NY Rt 40a. It crossed the Tomhannock Reservoir, when
it was just the Tomhannock Creek at what was a covered bridge. Then it
went thru the hamlet of Tomhannock. It went to Miller's Corners and
onto
NY Route 67. It followed Rt 67 except for a small detour onto Hunt Road
where you can't get back onto Rt 67 as it goes through what is now
someone's
residence. The road then went on to the Buskirk Covered Bridge. On this
section of Rt 67, the turnpike followed the same route except for a
slight
variation off onto another road. It then crossed the bridge and went up
a hill on Stage Rd, which is still a dirt road and made its way to
Cambridge.
After Cambridge, it presumably followed Old Rt 22 Road. Near Lake
Lauderdale,
it stopped following Rt 22 for a bit as evidenced by a mile marker on
Ackley
Road. Where Rt 22 currently crosses the Battenkill Creek, there
previously
was a covered bridge called the Old Red Bridge. It passed through Salem
and made its way up to Granville on Rt 22.
The best places to see what the road might have looked
like when it
was a toll road would be Stage
Road, from
the Buskirk Covered Bridge
and Hunt Road.
At each mile, there was a marker on how many miles until Lanfingburgh.
At the time, 's' was written as a fancy 'f' and in much writings, it
came
out to look like a 'f'. Here is my list of the 50 markers and which are
left standing and whatnot. Now includes pictures of some
milestones.
Mile Marker List
- 1 Gone
- 2 Gone
- 3 Yes.
Corner of Rt 40 and Fogarty Rd, Speigletown.
Very good condition of marker and in front of the John Van Der Spiegel
homestead.
- 4 Yes.
Almost across from Turner Road on
a small hill.
- 5 Gone? Would be in Grant's Hollow
- 6 Gone Would be on County Route 117
- 7 Gone Same
- 8 Gone Same
- 9 Gone Would be submerged under Tomhannock Reservoir
- 10 Gone
- 11 Gone
- 12 Gone
- 13 Gone
- 14 Currently at a residence
- 15 Gone
- 16
Returned to Pittstown Historical Society
- 17 Gone
- 18 Gone
- 19 Gone
- 20 Gone Would be on Stage Road Washington County
- 21 Gone Same
- 22 Gone Same
- 23 Yes
On Turnpike Road.
- 24 Gone
- 25 Gone
- 26 Gone
- 27 Yes North of Cambridge on Rt 22 across from Cow
Auction.
- 28 Gone
- 29 Yes
Rt 22.
- 30 Gone
- 31 Yes
On Ackley Road. Also very good condition
- 32 Might exist, check back later
- 33 Gone
- 34 Gone
- 35 Gone
- 36 Yes
next to Brook Road in Village of Salem.
Good condition
- 37 Gone
- 38 Gone
- 39 Yes
but damaged. On Rt 22
[5/2003]
- 40 Yes
On Rt 22
- 41 Yes
On Rt 22
- 42 Gone
- 43 Yes On Rt 22
- 44 Gone
- 45 Gone
- 46 Yes
On Rt 22 Across from South Grimes
Hill Road.
- 47 Gone
- 48 Might Exist, check back.
- 49 Gone
- 50 Gone
- 51 Gone
- 52 Gone
- 53 Yes.
By the Price Chopper Plaza
Some
advertisements
that appeared in Newspapers
June 11th, 1799 - Northern Budget
Notice is hereby given that the Books of the first company of the
Northern
Turnpike Road are opened, agreeably to the directions of the statute
incorporating
said Company, and are lodged with the Commissioners at the following
places,
viz - At Lansingbrugh, with John Lovett; at Pittstown,
with
John Carpenter; at Buskirk's Bridge, with Martin
Van Buskirk; at Cambridge,
with Edmund Wells, jun.; at Salem, with John
Williams; at Hebron,
with David Long; at Granville, with Timothy
Leonard. -All persons
desiring to subscribe for Shares in said Company, may apply to either
of
said Commissioners, st either of the aforesaid places.
May 20th, 1801 - Lansingbrugh
Gazette
The Directors of the First Northern Turnpike Road,
leading from
Lansingburgh, in the county of Rensselaer, to Granville, in the county
of Washington, a distance of more than fifty miles,
will be ready
to commence working said road by the fifth day of June next
- Any
persons desiring to contract for any part of said road, which may be
surveyed
this season, may make application to the Directors in Lansingburgh, by
said day.
By order of the Board
A. Douglas, Clerk.
June 16th 1801 - Lansingburgh
Gazette
NORTHERN TURNPIKE ROAD
Ten miles of this road are already surveyed, and a contract entered
into for working it this summer. The contractors are men of industry
and
enterprise, and are well acquainted with their business. The Directors
are at present exploring and surveying a further ten miles of the road,
which, we understand will also be completed during the season. Perhaps
no turnpike in the state, will, in proportion to its extent, be of
greater
utility to the public, or more productive to its proprietors. It will
be
the through-fare through which the produce of the northern part of this
state, and the principal part of the western district of Vermont, must
come to market, and the soil over which it is to pass, is in general
well
calculated for sonstructing it and rendering it durable. The stock is
nearly
all taken up - about one hundred shares only remaining unsubscribed.
March 8, 1802 Lansingburgh
Gazette
NORTHERN TURNPIKE ROAD
PROPOSALS
Will be received by the Subscribers, until the first day
day of April
next, for working the road from the house of Mr. EWarner, south of John
Younglove, in the town of Cambridge, to the Court-House,
in the
town of Salem, to be completed by the first day of September next. All
persons wishing to contract, will send in their Proposals, in writing,
previous to the said first day of April next.
A BRIDGE
PROPOSALS will also be received for
building a BRIDGE across Batten-Kill, on said Turnpike road to be a
firm,
substantial, well built Bridge, twenty-four feet wide, and covered with
three inch pine plank, and completed by the said first day of September
next.
JOS. ALEXANDER, at Lansingburgh.
ABNER STONE, \
JAMES HARVEY, / at Salem.
April 16, 1802 Lansingburgh
Gazette
Northern Turnpike Road
The Legislature of this state having, by a law, passed at the last
session
of the same, authorized the President, Directors and First Company of
the Northern
Turnpike Road, to increase the Capital Stock of the Company forty
thousand Dollars - NOTICE is hereby given, That on TUESDAY
the 11th
day of May next, at two o'clock in the afternoon, a BOOK will
be opened
at the dwelling house of Nathaniel Jacobs, in the
village of Lansingburgh,
for the purpose of receiving subscriptions for One Thousand
Shares
in the stock of said Company, at forty dollars each
Share; and the
said Book will be closed on the Saturday following, at sunset.
Subscribers
are required, at the time of subscribing, to pay five dollars - the
further
sum of five dollars on sixty days thereafter, on each Share by them
respectively
to be subscribed.
By order of the President and Directors,
A. DOUGLAS, Clerk.
June 16, 1802 Lansingburgh
Gazette
PROPOSALS
Will be received, by JACOB A. FORT, one of the Subscribers, until the
first day of July next, for building a BRIDGE over the Hosick
Rover,
north of Abraham Lake's house, to be completed by
the first day
of November next. A plan of the Bridge may be seen, by applying to the
said Jacob, at his house in the town of Hosick.
PHILIP
SMITH
\ Turnpike
JACOB A. FORT }
THO's
RATOONE
/ Committee.
A Paragraph from the Hebron, NY
history book. 'The First Northern
Turnpike of 1799, which generally followed the route of State highway
22,
was important as a route to the outside world until the Rutland
Railroad
was built in 1852. Although located east of Hebron in Vermont, the
railroad
generally paralleled the turnpike and in time put it out of business.'
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