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Blenheim Covered Bridge
The Old Blenheim Bridge is located in the Town of Blenheim on State Route 30 in North Blenheim, Schoharie County, New York. It spans the Schoharie Creek and is "double-barreled" or has two separate lanes. At 232 feet in length between the stone abutments, this bridge has the unique distinction of being "the longest covered single span wooden bridge in the world" and one of only six remaining bridges in the world with two separated lanes. It is constructed of Long truss with a center arch. The bridge was built in 1854-5 by Nicholas M. Powers under contract for the Blenheim Bridge Company (inc. 1828) as a toll bridge and retired from use in 1931, and was listed as a National Historic Landmark on January 29, 1964; placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966; and is now a National Historic Engineering Landmark, 1984.
It's interesting to note that the bridge was not originally built in place over the Schoharie Creek as most folks would imagine, but rather was assembled at a site nearby, to insure the pieces all fit together correctly. Afterwards it was disassembled and erected in its present location across the creek. Ninety-four thousand board feet (127 tons) of lumber, 3,600 pounds of bolts and 1,500 pounds of washers were used in its construction. Nicholas Powers was paid $7.00 a day ($2,000 total) and the workmen received $1.00 a day. When the bridge was completed in 1855 it cost $6,000. During construction scoffers said that the bridge would fall due to its own weight with the removal of the falsework (falsework being the temporary scaffolding, also called "bents", made of heavy logs, which were used to support the bridge during construction). When the day came, Powers climbed to the roof and said, "If the bridge goes down, I never want to see the sun rise again!" People then said that the bridge would sag so much as to be useless. Powers replied that if this happened he would jump off. When the falsework was taken away the bridge settled only slightly, even less than Powers had calculated.
Local lore has it that while the stone abutments were being built one of the masons was sent to fetch a jug of rye whiskey. Before they got a chance to open the jug and imbibe the president of the bridge company, J. Dickinson, who was a "teetotaller" (it's an archaic term by today’s standard, a tetotallar being someone who practices and promotes the complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages) arrived unannounced to inspect the progress of the bridge. The masons were forced to hastily hide the jug in the first available spot which happened to be a niche in the abutment. As work proceeded at a quicker pace under the eagle eye of the company president, who wouldn't leave, the masons were forced to build up the stonework around the jug before it was rescued, and supposedly, it remains there to this day.
"The picturesque old bridge has had many adventures. It has been afire three times and is now insured like any ordinary house. Twice the roof caught fire from windblown sparks and embers from burning buildings in the village. And once, many years ago, when traveling tinkers went about mending pots and pans, carrying a small charcoal stove to heat their soldering irons, one of these tinkers went so sleep in the bridge and tipped his stove over. The hot coals ignited the wooden bridge but someone happened along in time to put the fire out and to sober up the "tinker" in the nearby river." – Schenectady Union-Star: Feb. 26, 1930
Old Covered Bridge - North Blenheim, NY
(Click Photo Above For More Images of Bridge)
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Blenheim
Bridge
Schoharie
Creek
Covered
Bridge
Historic
Marker
Added: 8th September 2007
Views: 198
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Posted By: Ohlhous |
 
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During the American Revolutionary War, in 1777, Jane McCrea was a 17 year old Loyalist living at the farm of her older brother, Col. John McCrea at Fort Edward, NY to be close to her fiancé, Lt. David Jones, a loyalist serving with British General Burgoyne's army. On July 27th of that year, while she was visiting the home of Mrs. McNeil, the two women were captured by Indians allied to the British. Since both women were under the protection of General Burgoyne, they were reasonably sure nothing would happen to them. Their captors separated into two bands, each with one of the women. When Mrs. McNeil, a cousin of General Simon Fraser's, arrived with her captors at the British camp, she wondered where Jane was, since she had departed ahead of Mrs. McNeil. Shortly thereafter, the first party of Indians returned to the camp with a fresh scalp lock. It seems an argument had ensued over Jane McCrea, and to settle the argument, she had been killed. Other reports however state she was accidentally killed by friendly fire as the Indians made off with her. She was buried three miles south of Fort Edward. Though a Tory sympathizer, her death, and those of others in similar raids, inspired some of the resistance to Burgoyne's invasion leading to his defeat at the Battle of Saratoga. But the effect expanded later as reports of the incident were used, almost as propaganda, to excite rebel sympathies during the war, especially before the Sullivan Expedition in 1779. The story had become a part of American folklore when James Fennimore Cooper described some similar events in his novel "The Last of the Mohicans". Later on, 1852, McCrea's remains were removed and re-interred at the Union Cemetery in the Town of Fort Edward. McCrea's remains were exhumed in 2003 and researchers were surprised to find that McCrea's skull was missing, and her bones were commingled with those of another Revolutionary-era woman, Sara McNeil, a landowner and a cousin of British Gen. Simon Fraser. The bodies were exhumed again in 2005 in order to provide separate graves for both women.
This Marker is posted outside the Broadway (Route 4) entrance to the Union Cemetery in Fort Edward.
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Jane
McCrea
Fort
Edward
Added: 9th September 2007
Views: 386
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Posted By: Ohlhous |
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For a short film made over fifty years ago, this fifteen minute treatment of the Civil War has some good moments.
Tags:
civil
war
1954
Added: 22nd September 2007
Views: 115
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Posted By: prelingerfan |
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A light-hearted reminder of the importance of springs in our lives. Though made almost seventy years ago, nearly every example used could have been taken from our lives today.
Tags:
springs
1940
Added: 26th September 2007
Views: 78
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Posted By: prelingerfan |
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3 Duanesburg Markers
These three markers are located in front of the Christ Episcopal Church at the intersection of Duanesburg Churches Road and the Great Western Turnpike (US Route 20) in Duanesburg, New York.
WILLIAM NORTH
Born 1755 Buried Here 1836
Aide to Steuben in 1779
General in U.S. Army
Son In Law of James Duane
Assemblyman and Speaker
State Education
Department 1932
William North (1755 - January 3, 1836) was a United States Senator representing the state of New York. North was born in Fort Frederick, Pemaquid (part of Bristol, Maine), in 1755, where he attended the common schools. He moved with his mother to Boston, Massachusetts and served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. After the war he settled in Duanesburg, New York. He married Mary Duane, daughter of James Duane, on October 14, 1787 and had six children. He was elected to the New York State Assembly several times. North was appointed as a Federalist to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Sloss Hobart and served from May 5, 1798 to August 17, 1798, when a successor was elected and qualified. He was appointed adjutant general of the Army with the rank of Brigadier General 1798-1800. He was a member and speaker of the State assembly in 1810. He died in Duanesburg, New York and is interred in the crypt under Christ Episcopal Church.
JAMES DUANE
Born 1732 Buried Here 1797
In Continental Congress
Provincial Convention
Mayor of New York, State
Senator, Federal Judge
State Education
Department 1932
After his parents died, young James Duane (b Feb. 6, 1733 [date does not match that on the marker]; d Feb 1, 1797) became the ward of Robert Livingston, who was known as the 3rd Lord of the Manor. He completed his early education at Livingston Manor, then read law in the offices of James Alexander. He was admitted to the bar in 1754. Then in 1759, James married Maria Livingston, the eldest daughter of his former guardian Robert. He was Clerk of the Chancery Court of New York in 1762, State Attorney General in 1767 and Indian commissioner for the Colony of New York in 1774. During the American Revolution When the British occupied New York City in 1776, he was forced from his home. He withdrew his wife and family to the relative safety of her father's home at Livingston Manor on the Hudson. Duane served in the New York state Senate from 1783 to 1790. He first became the Mayor of New York City by appointment in 1784, serving until 1789. He was a delegate to the New York convention that ratified the Federal Constitution. In 1789, President Washington named him the first judge of the United States District Court for New York.
As Duane established an extensive and profitable law practice he acquired by purchase and inheritance the 50,000 acres of wilderness that is his namesake, the Town of Duanesburg (NY). Duane's early attempts to settle these lands were thwarted by agents of Sir William Johnson who circulated unfavorable reports about the land, as they were attempting to develop Johnson's holdings. Later Duane succeeded in contracting with 16 German families to begin farming/renting the land. Duane had plans to make Duanesburg the capitol of New York, but the citizens of Albany had other and more compelling ideas. Duane never lived in Duanesburg where he had already built the Christ Episcopal Church and had just begun to build a home on his estate when he died in Schenectady, New York. He is buried in the crypt beneath the Christ Episcopal Church in Duanesburg.
CHRIST
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Built 1732 Consecrated 1793
By Bishop Samuel Provoost
A Glebe of 80 Acres Presented
By James Duane for Rectory
State Education
Department 1932
After the retirement of Judge James Duane, one of his first thoughts was for a church, "Cemetery Lot" or "Square", having failed to become the head of Duanesburg village, he dedicated it to the uses of the church, and in its center he built the present house of worship. At a meeting of the rector and inhabitants of the town of Duanesburg on Tuesday, September 22, 1783, Judge James Duane, conveyed the church and the ground on which it is erected for the public worship of Almighty God according to the rites and sacraments of the Protestant Episcopal Church. The church was admitted to the Diocese of New York in 1789. The parish had a difficult existence for some years previous to 1795. In 1811 a tower and spire was added to the building and a few changes were made in the interior.
The Christ Episcopal Church has been documented in the Historic American Building Survey
Christ Episcopal Church
Duanesbsurg, New York
Tags:
Duanesburg
James
Duane
William
North
Christ
Church
Episcopal
Historic
Marker
Added: 23rd October 2007
Views: 249
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Posted By: Ohlhous |
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