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WPA - The Works Program A fifteen-minute documentary produced in the mid to late 1930s
Tags: wpa  works  program  fdr 
Added: 20th August 2007
Views: 98
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Posted By: Admin
Cuyahoga Valley Railroad and Canal Towpath The Historic Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad from Brecksville to Peninsula then along the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath. Visit: Ohio & Erie Towpath Group for information on the Ohio Erie Towpath group. Learn more about the Ohio Erie Canal.
Tags: cuyahoga  valley  railroad  canal  towpath  biking 
Added: 20th October 2007
Views: 439
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Posted By: Henry152
Friends Meeting House - Quaker Street, NY

New York
FRIENDS
MEETING HOUSE

Erected 1807 Near Site
Of Original Log Structure
1st Preacher - Ezekiel Tripp
Society Organized About 1790
State Education
Department 1932



This Building is on the Historical American Building 

Survey The building sits beside Route 7 in Quaker Street. A Night Time Photo. Mechanical Drawings of the Meeting House



The little village of Quaker Street, in the Schenectady County town of Duanesburg, is in one of the oldest settlements in this part of New York State. 200 years ago, in 1807, The Religious Society of Friends, whose members are commonly known as Quakers, built the current frame building to replace the previous building, a log structure.

The Quakers, after buying the land from the family of James Duane, began building the meeting house in 1807, probably began using it in 1809, and finished the structure in 1813. It was a Quaker by the name of Job Briggs who paid James C. Duane, son of James Duane, 32 pounds for the two acres of land that became the site of the current meeting house. The building cost close to 550 pounds to build.

This well-preserved two story building has an attic and rests on a field stone foundation with no cellar. It was originally built with no porch and had a dividing- folding partition, through the center of the building, which was raised and lowered by means of pulleys and ropes, because the men and women usually entered and sat on opposite sides of the room. The partitions were removed in 1885. An adjoining carriage shed and burial ground are still on the property.

"The architecture tells you everything you need to know about the Quakers... It's white and gray, very simple and plain, with no embellishment or accoutrements, and that speaks volumes about the Quaker faith. They believe in complete directness, honesty, plainness, with no guile or personality. You’re not supposed to draw attention to yourself." - Art Willis - Quaker and Duanesburg Town Historian




In the photo at the top of the page the historic marker is seen back in place at the edge of Route 7 and in front of the meeting house, after receiving a fresh coat of paint. It had been down for some time after being knocked over by a snow plow last winter.

Other Historic Markers in New York State can be looked up by County Here
Tags: Quaker  Street  Friends  Meeting  House  Duane  Duanesburg 
Added: 8th December 2007
Views: 166
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Posted By: Ohlhous
The Deep Cut at Lockport - Erie Canal A Treacherous Towpath
The two images are both of the same stretch of the Erie Canal. One is a recent shot of the modern NYS Barge Canal and the other is a postcard published about 100 years ago before the Barge Canal widening was done. They both show Lockport's famous Deep Cut; and the arrows point to the towpath that was a shelf cut into the solid rock on one side of the channel in this section.

Richard Garrity was born the son of a canal boat operator at just about the turn of the century, and in 1971 his recollections of the Erie were published. In them, he recounts the following incident that happened in the area shown above.

"When mother called me one morning for breakfast, she did not seem her usual cheerful self. I sensed that something had gone wrong. On inquiring, I was told that our team of mules had fallen into the canal just before midnight and had drowned about a mile above the [Lockport] locks. The current had carried the boats along the canal, and were lying at the head of the locks tied up. Nearby I could see the two drowned mules floating in the canal with their collars and harness still on. The current had also carried them down to the locks during the night. The driver was safe, but I could sense the general air of gloom that was felt by everyone on the boats.

When I asked how it had happened, I was told that the wind had picked up during the night and a sudden gust had blown a piece of paper along the towpath towards the mules. This caused the outside mule to shy and crowd the other mule off the towpath into the canal. Being hitched together, one mule had dragged the other into the water with him. The towpath, in the rock cut at this point, was six or seven feet above the water's edge, and the night being very dark, the mules soon became entangled in their harnesses and drowned. Had it been daylight, they might have been saved. In this particular place, along the towpath, nothing could have been done to save them in the darkness."

Mr. Garrity goes on to point out that the towpath remained in the rock cut even after the canal was widened for diesel traffic in 1905-1918 because mules were still needed while work was underway. Only the south side (the left side in the top right photo) had material removed. In the lower photo, trees have long since taken root in the soil that was washed by rains down to this ledge from above.

(Recollections of the Erie Canal, by Richard Garrity. Published by Historical Society of the Tonawandas, Inc. Tonawanda, NY April 1971 Pg 13).
Tags: towpath  deep  cut  erie  canal  lockport  garrity 
Added: 16th February 2008
Views: 358
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Posted By: Lowbridge

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