Where in Albany County Am I - #1

Wednesday morning around 9 am, mostly cloudy, about 35°

Scroll along the pictures, all taken this morning, and you can figure out where I am.  They get more specific as you go along.

I'm at the Normanskill Farm Park, of course! It is in the City of Albany, just off of Delaware Avenue, a wonderful place with lots of history.  

The park is the former Stevens Farm, part of the expansive Norman's Kill Farm Dairy operation. On this farm, established about 1900, Mark Stevens and his crew raised turkeys, laying hens, and hogs, They milked 40 Golden Guernsey cows twice a day.  The larger Norman's Kill Farm Dairy also included a dairy on 9W in Glenmont (about where Walmart and Lowes are today) where 200 Guernsey's were milked, a large bottling plant in Albany (demolished for the Albany South Mall project), a milk receiving station in Washington County and a skimming station in Westerlo.  Plus an army of home delivery wagons and trucks. 

In 1975 Crowley Foods purchased the Norman's Kill Farm name and business, and in 1980 the City of Albany acquired the property I visited this morning. 

Walking here can seem so rural and bucolic, but you are definitely surrounded by our busy community.  The high bridge carrying Delaware Avenue over the Normanskill practically buzzes with traffic. The low concrete bridge, part of the old Yellow Brick Road and closed to vehicles, is crumbling but you can still walk over it. With some imagination, one can visualize the mills, ice houses, blacksmith shop, and taverns that used to be here. Plus, homes, a church and a school. I try and imagine the tollgate on the west side of the bridge where keeper Peter Esmay collected three cents for travel on horseback via the old Delaware Turnpike. 

It was a varied place on both sides of the creek. Now, it is a quiet bedroom community - quiet except for the sound of water rushing over the rocks in the channel, and those cars and trucks zipping over head.  

The Whipple Truss Bridge pictured above was constructed in 1867 in Syracuse and moved here in 1899.  It connects the Stephens Farm to the road that used to be the Delaware Turnpike.  Now that Delaware Avenue travels up high, this low route is called Normanskill Drive.  The bridge is an engineering gem and one of the very few such iron bridges still in existence.  Also, its fun to walk over!

One surprise on my walk today was how active the beavers have been along the creek - this is down by the dog park and community gardens.  There won't be many trees along the banks if they keep it up.  I couldn't see a dam or a beaver lodge - more exploring is needed!