Richard WeltyFeb 4
1/ currently working on this in #openhistoricalmap
i'm working through a document from the Rensselaer Land Trust website, a detailed, well researched discussion of the "Albany Road" that ran from Bath (north end of modern Rensselaer) NY to Williamstown MA in the late colonial period. the route through Bath ran up the hill on Rensselaer Ave (modern Forbes), then followed Washington, crossing the modern US 4 corridor and then following modern NY 43 (except when it didn't.)
Show threadRichard WeltyFeb 4
2/ tracing the route on the western end, things got strange.
there is a discussion of a short trip off of the modern Washington going around a rock outcropping, running up Rock Cut Road and then back. i know Rock Cut Road, it's typically gated these days. it sits immediately to the west (left) of the wooded patch in the middle of the #openstreetmap screen cap. but the trip back to the south was interesting to figure out.
Show threadRichard WeltyFeb 4
3/ this area was significantly reshaped by a rerouting of NY 43 a few years back now; it looked a bit different when i first moved to this area. but then, this is about #openhistoricalmap, now isn't it. so the old highway alignments are part of the point. Washington Avenue used to be the route of 43, that long curve to the south didn't exist, and certain roads weren't cut off by the construction of the new 43 ramp.
Show threadRichard Welty
4/ but then, the Rock Cut Road bypass. i briefly considered that it might have come back down Van Alstyne Drive, but i didn't really believe that. it seemed to me that Laura Lane, now chopped up by modern highway construction might be a better candidate. i poked around, and found the 1925 Troy NY Topo map, which backed the Laura Lane idea up. the red selection is my proposed route, overlaid on the Topo. but it took one more thing to help nail it down...
Feb 4 at 5:13amWeb
Show threadRichard WeltyFeb 4
5/5 one meter NYS Lidar data. the rock outcropping is clearly visible, including the cut they made once explosives were good enough to do the job of straightening out the road.