Technology is an important item today, and, like most older Americans, I’ll admit it caused some negatives but also positives. It’s given the local historians the ability to save Tidbits, small sections of our town’s amazing history. That includes, among other studies, researching the history of the town’s street names; some obvious, some not so much.
A few known:
Bloomer Road, named after the 1813 Town of Hunter Supervisor Bloomer.
There’s Park Lane, named after Onteora Park cottagers avoiding the dusty Hill St., cutting across the wooded area to the east and entering the road that would become Park Lane.
In Hunter there’s the obvious Ski Bowl Road and Bridge Street. In Lanesville there’s Sickler Drive, and Platt Clove has the obvious Clum Hill, and Dale Lane. Then there is Haines Falls O’Hara Road from the owners of Shady Grove Hotel (Peach Village today) but long ago it was Dixon Hill.
There are others to be researched.
One street in Tannersville that calls for recognition starts at Tannersville’s traffic light on Railroad Avenue. Heading south on Railroad Avenue looked very different in the 1880s. The road we drive on today didn’t exist. The road went slightly west, and up and down a steep hill. Our numerous hotels sent coaches to pick up travelers at the rail station. Horses struggled with the climb up and the hill back down, especially during wet weather. The Tannersville Village Board saw the need to quickly improve the situation. The crew began to “Dig out” the steep bank and turned it into the gradual sloping Railroad Avenue we have today. Locally it was called the Dugway or the Dugout”.
The Village workers, prior to any convenient construction aids, dug the road by hand. They dug away the high bank to create the road we enjoy today.
It the late 1880s it was known as the “Dugway Project”. Reducing the grade was a huge job and the men successfully accomplished it by removing tons of earth from the wooded area.
A street sign saying, “The Dugway”, would be a testament to the hard work and dedication of the village men.
Thanks for reading. Happy Fall. Be well and stay safe.
Dede Terns-Thorpe/hunterhistorian@gmail.com
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