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.
