Day 2 - Lee, MA to Sharon Springs, NY

Weather 55-65  Cloudy, spot shower a few breaks of sun

The morning began in Lee, which I had visited the day prior and due to fog and the early time, this morning visit went by.  I do plan to return to visit on the return trip. (My hotel was off the Pike)

Route 20 then turns north for some distance and meets with US 7 in Lenox, MA.  In the 1950s, a bypass was built around the center of town, however I took the original route.  There is a beautiful stone marker at the old intersection of US 20 and 7 to determine direction.  Today seems out of place on a town road, this is how you know there was something important here,

The towns downtown is filled with small shops, a very nice library in the old court house. 

From Lenox, I entered Pittsfield.  This is a commercial section of highway, but at times still holds a nice quaint New England charm. 

And from having our base in Massachusetts, bypassing some of these towns on this tour are acceptable as either we have visited extensively in the past, or we have future meetings or plans with them after the return trip.  So if you are reading from a town in Western MA or Eastern NY. Don’t worry if you think you missed us.

From Pittsfield, you enter Hancock and pass by the Shaker Village which is now a museum.

Then comes the New York border! 

And you enter the town of New Lebanon, another old Shaker town.  Don’t miss the small section known as Old Route 20!  

It is amazing how when you plan for intervals between meetings that you then find yourself running out of time.

The first meeting of the day was postponed, due to illness, but luckily was rescheduled for later this summer.

In Nassau, be sure to check out the old highway and bridge ends crossing Kinderhook Creek, there is a parking area,   It appears that this section of Route 20 was moved many years ago due to flood. 

The arrival in East Greenbush was the first official meeting of the trip. I was meeting with Janet Witbeck, the town historian.  Thankfully New York State law requires each town to have a historian.  Janet was wonderful and full of knowledge.  I was joined by the Deputy town supervisor and Kathy Sheehan, Rensselaer County Historian.  I presented our organization to them and discussed the placement of Historic Signs  They were very attentive and receptive to this meeting and expressed interest in placing historic route signs in their town. (Which is being overshadowed by a casino building project).  Kathy was a wealth of information and full of contacts at the State level.  I am so happy to have met them and I will be sure to
return.

East Greenbush runs into Rensselaer, with a great view of the capital city of New York, Albany.  Crossing the Dunn Bridge, you can see how the bridge was to connect to another highway that was never built.   The trek through Albany on 20 is a nice trip (Mid day).  Be sure to stop just by the overpass and park next to the New York State Museum. Then climb the stairs to view the Capitol building, and other structures in the plaza, including the Corning building, which is the highest skyscraper in New York, outside, NYC.

The neighborhood along 20 as you leave Albany is tree-lined and charming.

Leaving the metropolis of Albany slowly gets you back into the rural farmland of Upstate NY.  Old diners dot the landscape with wide open parcels of land.

As you reach Duanesburg, you enter the Route 20 Scenic Byway, an organization I have had some good contact with.  I think our sign will look good here.

Duanesburg crosses NY Route 7 – along the way, I viewed where a tornado ripped through the day prior and sadly destroyed a home.  Such sadness to see.

I then entered Esperance to meet with Ken Jones, the town historian for our 2 PM appointment.  The historical museum is in a former one room schoolhouse.  Whether you travel Interstate 88 or Routes 20 or 7, you can find signs for this museum.   For such a small town, I found a huge, large history existed here and Mr. Jones was more than gracious to share his information with me.   He had out a newspaper showing the opening of the new Route 20 bridge that replaced the towns iconic covered bridge.

Esperance was the half way point between Cherry Valley and Albany and became one of the regions great stage stops on the Great Western Turnpike. I was informed that many of the homes served as rooming houses and the museum held an extensive collection of old town photographs depicting its rich history. 

The museum is open after Memorial Day on weekends 1-4.  I highly recommend visiting. Again for such a small museum, the history is alive, rich and amazing in this small town.

A tour of the farming museum then commenced and a view inside the historic church as well made the visit even better.

Mr. Jones informed me that he was taking me to dinner with his wife, which was not expected by greatly appreciated. A small place in Duanesburg offered a killer sub – The Fiesta. You won’t leave hungry.  Johnnys was the place on 20.

As the evening continued, I did not feel I missed out on much as the air was heavy with haze and fog and the drive along 20 would not have produced amazing pictures.  Upon leaving Esperance, I headed to my destination town of Sharon Springs,NY. Where I was to meet my hosts for the night at the American Hotel, Doug and Garth – just north of 20 on NY 10. Doug is the Mayor of this charming village.  Little did I know that I planned this trip on their busiest day of the year and the Garden Party. Where I will be giving a presentation on Saturday morning!    I met some great people in the hotel, and as it was booked was offered a room at Doug and Garths home.