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Courtland Cemetery

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Alabama, Lawrence County, Courtland

Side A
One of Alabama's oldest and most picturesque town cemeteries, this site was set aside as a burying ground by the Courtland Land Company in its original survey made prior to the incorporation of the town in 1819. Many of the area's earliest settlers and prominent leaders are buried here, including three Revolutionary War veterans. There are a number of unmarked graves of Confederate soldiers. Three Union soldiers were interred here following an 1863 skirmish at the nearby railroad trestle. Their graves were later enclosed behind a rock wall erected by the townspeople. (Over)

Side B
Older gravemarkers found in this cemetery represent a variety of styles and types common in the 1800s and early 1900s. They include simple upright stone slabs as well as "table" and "box" tombs. tall granite obelisks and Victorian-era statuary. Some family plots are enclosed with ornamental cast-iron fences. Older graves lie mostly in the southern part of the cemetery. After the Civil War, an African-American burial ground was established just east of the main cemetery. Oldest graves in this section date from the early 1900s. (Over)

(Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Settlements & Settlers • War, US Civil • War, US Revolutionary) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Marks House

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Alabama, Montgomery County, Pike Road
Built by William Matthews Marks, who immigrated from Oglethrope County, GA, on acreage purchased from the U.S. land office in Cahaba, AL for $1.25 per acre.

Foundation is pegged-together heart pine; framing is 3" by 9" timbers; mantles, dados, and all the bricks are hand made. Kitchen, baths, a rose garden and pavilion for dancing were added by the Churchill Marks family in the 1920s. The house was purchased by Dr. Haywood B. (Woody) Bartlett in 1957.

In 1967, the movie of Truman's Capote's "Thanksgiving Visitor" was filmed in the house. The facility has served as the Pike Road Community Club Center since 1968. The Pike Road Arts and Crafts fair is held here annually on the first Saturday in November. The house suffered extensive fire damage on August 28, 1997 and was subsequently restored by the Pike Road Community.

(Arts, Letters, Music • Entertainment • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Miami Indian Memorial

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Indiana, Wabash County, near La Fontaine
Chief Metocinyah, whose village was destroyed by Campbell's troops during the Mississinewa Expedition of 1812, has been credited with quieting the Miami after the invasion. This service to the Americans is believed to be the reason his band was given a reservation of 6,400 acres, including 10 miles of river frontage by the Treaty of 1838. The Meshingomesia Reservation, the last in Indiana, was confirmed to Chief Meshingomesia by the Treaty of 1840. By petition to the Congress in 1873 Meshingomesia was persuaded to divide the land under government supervision, among the 63 members of the band then living. Soon after the division, the land mostly was in the hand of Americans, by marriage as well as by purchase.

(Native Americans • War of 1812) Includes location, directions, 1 photo, GPS coordinates, map.

Skirmish at McCrae's House

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Ontario, The Municipality of Chatham-Kent, near Chatham
Following the defeat of the British at the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813, American forces controlled the Thames Valley west of Moraviantown. In early December a detachment of 3 officers and 36 men of the American 26th Regiment established a post near here at the house of Thomas McCrae. Before daybreak on December 15, 1813, they were surprised by Lieutenant Henry Medcalf and 32 members from the Norfolk and Middlesex Militia, the Kent Volunteers and the Provincial Dragoons. After a brief resistance the Americans surrendered and were taken prisoner.

(War of 1812) Includes location, directions, 7 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Beverley Robinson’s House

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New York, Putnam County, Garrison
Built 1758             Burnt 1892

Headquarters of
Washington, Putnam, Arnold
and other Generals
Commanding the Highlands.

(War, US Revolutionary) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The West Point Foundry

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New York, Putnam County, Cold Spring
A writer describing this
military establishment observes:

“During my visit I learned that since the [Civil] war began over three hundred cannon have been manufactured here for our government – the Parrott gun exclusively – to 300-pounders. The guns have done duty in our forts, on our gunboats, and in our grandly-moving armies, so sublimely sweeping through the hostile Southern States. One of these 300-pounders weighs twenty-six thousand pounds, or thirteen tons. One was being cast as I visited the place. It was a sight worth traveling hundreds of miles to see. These guns are submitted to the severest tests before turned over for service. The precipitate banks of Crow Nest are the target of the experimental trial, the distance fired being two thousand yards. Two huge bare spots, with deep indentures in the rocks, attest the accuracy of the range and force of the firing. At all hours of the day for the past four years the firing of these guns have awakened fearful echoes among these environing heights, oftentimes sounding like the roar of a terrible battle.”

- - The New York Times.   1865

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Only Two Survived

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Minnesota, Renville County, near Delhi

Mary Schwandt and her brother August were the only two of their extended family of nine who survived the terrible six week long war now usually named the United States - Dakota Conflict of 1862. During Mary's captivity with the Dakota Indians, she developed a lifelong friendship with her Dakota protector, Snasna'win. When the peaceful Dakota were confined at Fort Snelling the winter of 1862, Snasna'win lost her two remaining children, leaving only two in yet another family.

In the spring of 1862, the Schwandt family moved to this seemingly quiet place to build a new life for themselves and their growing family: father Johan, mother Christina, Karoline Schwandt Walz, Karoline's husband John Walz, Mary, August, Frederick, Christian and family friend John Frass. They built a rough, two room log cabin that became their home.

On August 18, 1862, Dakota Indians, frustrated over broken treaty promises and seeing their way of life threatened, decided to take back their treaty land. The Schwandts and others not involved in the treaties between the government and the Dakota suffered the consequences of the attacks that followed.

Mary wasn't at home on August 18 when her family was attacked and killed by Indians. She was working for the Reynolds family and instead, she and two other young women were taken captive by the Dakota and taken to Little Crow's village. A Dakota woman Snasna'win (Tinkling), who had just lost her seven year old daughter, traded a pony for Mary. Snasna'win and her husband Wakin'yanwas'te', (Andrew Good Thunder) had two other small children. They became Mary's new family.

Snasna'win kept Mary safe for the six long weeks to come. Mary was finally turned safely over to Sibley's troops at Camp Release late in September. Mary found out later that her entire family was gone except August. August, though injured, had wandered across the prairie to the safety of Fort Ridgely. Eventually, Mary and August were reunited and sent to live with an uncle in Wisconsin.

After General Sibley recovered the white and mixed-blood captives at Camp Release, the Dakota were interred at Fort Snelling for the winter. In this crowed space surrounded by a tall wooden fence, many became ill and died. Snasna'win and Wakin'yanwas'te' lost their remaing two children during that cruel winter. The following spring Snasna'win was allowed to stay at Alexander Faribault's farm while many Dakota were exiled from Minnesota.

Years later, through an article written by Mary about her experiences, Snasna'win found Mary. They continued to write and visit over their remaining years.

Spelling of the names were taken from "A Dakota-English Dictionary" by Stephen R. Riggs (1992 edition, written 1812-1833.)

Struggles for a Home
The Minnesota River Valley has a story to tell about indigenous people struggling to make a home amid a changing environment. The Minnesota River Valley also has a story to tell about the struggles of the pioneering immigrant families who eventually created one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world.

The Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway
Funded in part by Federal Highway Administration
logos of: America's Byways; Wal-Mart; Renville County; Scenic Byway Minnesota River Valley

(Native Americans • Settlements & Settlers • Wars, US Indian) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

History of West Point Foundry

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New York, Putnam County, Cold Spring

Water and Power
West Point Foundry was one of America’s great early ironworks. An internationally renowned center of innovation and manufacturing, it’s been called the Silicon Valley of its day.

Shortly after the War of 1812, President James Madison recognized that quality heavy artillery was key to modern warfare, and that national security depended on a steady and reliable supply of ordinance. He set out to find four sites for the establishment of foundries to supply guns and munitions. Cold Spring was an ideal location: It was close to sources of iron ore; the region’s abundant hardwood forests could supply charcoal; Margaret Brook (later named Furnace Brook and then Foundry Brook) supplied waterpower to drive foundry machinery; its finished goods could be easily transported down the Hudson River; and it was well-protected by the looming presence of the U.S. Military Academy on the opposite shore.

Gouverneur Kemble (right) incorporated the West Point Foundry Association in 1817. With $100,000 in capital raised from investors, he began an enterprise that over the course of the next century defined not only the growth and character of Cold Spring, but also the industrial might of a prospering nation.

The foundry was one of the first businesses to develop the principle of vertical integration – maintaining all facets of manufacturing, from raw materials to finished products and their distribution channels – within a single company.

The Gun that Won the War
West Point Foundry proved its strength at military production during the Civil War, when it mass-produced rifled cannons developed and patented by foundry Superintendent Robert Parrott. Providing greater distance, power and accuracy, the Parrott guns are credited with giving the Union Army and Navy the military advantage necessary for victory. The weapons’ importance was recognized by President Lincoln, who witnessed a demonstration of the Parrott gun at the foundry in 1862. By war’s end, West Point Foundry had manufactured nearly 1,700 cannons and 1.3 million projectiles ranging in weight from 10 to 300 pounds.

Interestingly, West Point Foundry not only produced the guns on the U.S.S. Monitor but the engines that propelled the U.S.S. Merrimack, renamed the Virginia by the Confederate Navy. The two met in the first-ever battle between ironclad warships on March 9, 1862.

A Center of Innovation
Military ordinance was not all the foundry produced. It won contracts to manufacture steam engines, as well as the nation’s first iron ship, the cutter Spencer. The first American locomotive, the Best Friend, also was constructed at the foundry, as was the record-setting Experiment, which in 1832 reached the astonishing speed of 80 miles per hour.

In addition, the foundry manufactured miles of cast-iron piping for New York’s water system, machinery for cotton and sugar mills, and components for use in cast iron furniture and architecture, some of which still grace building facades in lower Manhattan today. At its peak, the foundry employed more than 1,000 workers and had the capacity to produce 10,000 tons of cast iron per year.

The Emergence of Steel
Following the Civil War, the foundry declined because of a reduction in orders from the military and competition from the emerging steel industry. In 1897 the business was purchased by J.B. & W.W. Cornell & Co., manufacturers of machinery and architectural iron. It closed in 1911; over the ensuing decades, the site housed other industries before its eventual abandonment. In time the foundry’s ruins became woven among the forest seen today.

All images, except where noted, from the collection of the Putnam History Museum.

West Point Foundry Preserve
The West Point Foundry site has undergone profound changes in recent decades. After years of contamination by heavy-metal poisoning, caused by the former Marathon Battery Company plant (located on nearby land), Foundry Cove was declared an EPA Superfund site. From 1994-1996 the cove underwent extensive dredging and remediation that restored the tidal wetlands, key habitats and, gradually, the river’s health. Scenic Hudson purchased the 87-acre foundry site in 1996 to ensure its protection. With the help of many volunteers, it removed heaps of debris dumped on the property over the decades and created West Point Foundry Preserve. From 2001-2008, the Industrial Archaeology Program at Michigan Technological University – with Scenic Hudson’s sponsorship – conducted intensive surveys and investigations of the foundry’s surviving ruins, opening a window onto its evolving operations and Cold Spring’s early history.

In 2013 Scenic Hudson completed major site improvements that make West Point Foundry Preserve a national model of sustainable landscape design and management – and provide lasting benefits. Its spacious gathering areas and innovative interpretive elements serve as an “outdoor classrooms,” where lessons in industrial history, the Civil War and the environment come alive. It offers another exciting tourism destination in Cold Spring and Putnam County. Perhaps above all, it is a magnificent place to connect with the beauty and spiritual power of nature.

To learn more about West Point Foundry and see examples of its output – from Parrott gun projectiles to cast iron furniture – visit the Putnam History Museum, which features a permanent foundry exhibition as well as a research library containing archival material related to the ironworks. Founded in 1906 to collect, preserve and present to the public historical and cultural material pertaining to Putnam County, the museum is located at 63 Chestnut Street (stop 8 on the Red Trail) in the former schoolhouse built for foundry apprentices and employees’ children. The museum also organizes changing exhibitions and provides educational programming for the public.

(Industry & Commerce • War, US Civil • Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, 7 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

First Nations Encampment

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Ontario, The Municipality of Chatham-Kent, near Chatham
Thomas McCrae was an early settler, innkeeper, and political figure in Raleigh Township along the Thames River. He served as a captain and company commander in the Kent Militia and was present at the capture of Fort Detroit. Family tradition relates that McCrae used the prize money he received from the capture of the fort to complete his Georgian brick home in 1813.

On October 1, with the British now encamped across the river and to the east at Dolsen's Landing, the First Nations contingent encamped in this area for one night. Tecumseh is believed to have visited McCrae at his home on the evening of October 1.

(Native Americans • Settlements & Settlers • War of 1812) Includes location, directions, 9 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The 1865 Office Building

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New York, Putnam County, Cold Spring

This magnificent building is the only freestanding structure remaining at the preserve from the foundry years, rising alone from the forest cover. Yet as the photo below shows, West Point Foundry was a massive complex of industrial shops, railways and offices that filled the entire ravine. Built in 1865 – at the height of the foundry’s production – this symmetrical Victorian structure with its Renaissance architectural details replaced a smaller, one-story structure adjacent to the foundry’s machine shop that had served as its offices since the 1820s.

Ironically, the foundry’s prosperity, which allowed the office building to be constructed, began a long decline almost the moment it was built. With the Civil War at an end, government orders for ordinance dried up, yet West Point Foundry’s management was reluctant to transition operations away from munitions production. That, and increasing national demand for steel, signaled the beginning of the end of the foundry’s most productive years.

However, that decline also helped preserve the office building in the remarkable condition you see it in today. The structure would be in far worse shape had it been continually occupied and expanded over decades, like other buildings in the complex. Extensive work has been done to stabilize the building to preserve it for future use, but it is currently closed to the public.

All images, except where noted, from the collection of the Putnam History Museum.

( North Side Marker : )
The Tracks of Time

Almost from the beginning, rail transport played an important role at West Point Foundry. Though situated to afford easy access to the Hudson River’s shipping lanes, from an early date the foundry had direct railway sidings running between facilities and its riverside docks, with horses and oxen initially providing the power to haul heavily laden carts along the tracks. It wasn’t until 1870 that the first steam-powered engine began working at the ironworks. Brought from the Ninth Avenue elevated railroad in New York City, where it had been damaged in an accident, it was repaired at the foundry for use in the complex. These circa-1890 photos give some sense of the system of rails and exchanges at use in the foundry. The remains of tracks and track beds can be seen throughout the preserve. The recreated rail turntable evokes the complex network of transport that heavy industry began to utilize in the 19th century.

(Industry & Commerce) Includes location, directions, 12 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Skirmish at McCrae's House

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Ontario, The Municipality of Chatham-Kent, near Chatham
During the American occupation of the lower Thames, this house was used as a base for U.S. troops. In mid-December 1813, the house was occupied by 39 officers and men of the 26th Regiment led by Lieutenant Larwill.

At the same time, a group of 27 men of the Canadian militia from Norfolk and Middlesex Counties under the command of Lieutenant Henry Medcalf, had marched, through heavy snow, to Rondeau to collect cattle that were grazing in the area before they were found by the Americans. Once there, Medcalf was informed of the Americans occupying the McCrae house. From Rondeau, the soldiers marched to Chatham and met with Lieutenant John McGregor and six men of the Loyal Kent Volunteers to plan an attack. Just before dawn on December 15, 1813, the militia soldiers scaled the icy banks of the Thames River and fired a volley through the windows and doors of the house.The Americans surrendered with one soldier killed and four others wounded. Thomas McCrae, in his diary, noted that in the afternoon of December 16, two neighbours dug a grave and buried the American soldier.

Lieutenant Medcalf and his men had covered over 350 kilometres on foot through snow-covered wilderness and captured 38 American troops without a single Canadian casualty. It was the only time that a Canadian militia unit has captured a regular U.S. Army unit.

(War of 1812) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

O'Connell Island

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New York, Niagara County, Wilson
In the early 1920's, O'Connell Island provided winter access for Sunset Island residents by means of a removable foot bridge placed across Tuscarora Bay. This bridge connected the northwestern area of O'Connell Island to the old Island Store on Sunset Island. In the time following World War II, Mr. Bill Beccue purchased O'Connell Island. This area today includes a marina with dockage, repair and storage facilities, the Island Yacht Club and what is currently the Sunset Grill Restaurant. Although it does not appear to be an actual island, O'Connell Island was at one time separated from the mainland. Following his purchase, Mr. Beccue removed the small footbridge over the narrow channel of water separating the island, replacing it with a large culvert pipe and constructing a roadway over it. Mr. Beccue also established the boat basin and built two large Quonset huts, a boat launch and the dockage you see before you. The building now occupied by the Sunset Grill was the original clubhouse for the Island Yacht Club. The wood for much of its construction came from the large pine trees on O'Connell Island. In fact, Mr. Beccue set up a sawmill on the island specifically to cut this timber. The Island was called Beccue's Island until, in recent years, it was changed back to O'Connell Island by a former owner, Dean Johnson. As told by C.F. Horton. Winter Bridge from Sunset Island Store Dock to O'Connell Island, circa 1920's.

(Bridges & Viaducts) Includes location, directions, 8 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Oakland Rails

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California, Alameda County, Oakland

Railroad Heritage

The opening of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 reduced travel time between the East and West Coats from as much as four months by sea to just six days. The Central Pacific made Oakland its western terminus. In 1871, the railroad completed the two-mile-long Long Wharf off the city’s western shoreline, where the trains and ocean-going cargo ships. The railroad stimulated Oakland’s rapid growth as a shipping and population center, giving birth to the modern city.

Sleeping Car Porters
Among the most respected members of Oakland’s African American community were the Pullman Porters, uniformed attendants who staffed the railroad’s luxurious Pullman Sleeping Cars. The Porters provided professional and courteous service on the overland routes. The works was hard, shifts were long, and the pay was low – but the employment was steady. Widely traveled, educated, and knowledgeable, the Porters were esteemed within the community.
In 1925, the Pullman Porters formed a union and began fighting for higher wages and shorter hours. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters – the first African American labor union in the United States – was in the vanguard of the national struggle for equality and civil rights. It also contributed to the rise of the black middle class. In 1937, the union was recognized by the Pullman Company.
Oakland resident Cottrell Laurence Dellums (1900-1989), a Pullman Porter, was a leader in organizing the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Though he was fired for his union activities, he persisted and eventually served as the Union’s West Coast president. He also achieved prominence as an advocate of civil rights and fair employment practices at the federal, state, and local levels. In 1995, Oakland’s new Amtrak station was named in his honor.

(African Americans • Labor Unions • Railroads & Streetcars) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Convicts and Slaves

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Virginia, Fairfax County, Centreville

Naming of Newgate

Before the town of Centreville was created in 1792, the area was named after places in London. Newgate Tavern may have been named after the infamous Newgate Prison. A property adjacent to the tavern was called Wapping after a district in east London. The small stream that divided the two was named after the River Thames.

Convicts to Virginia
From 1718 to 1775 over 20,000 convicts were shipped from England to Virginia under the authority of the Transportation Act of 1718. The British Treasury paid merchants a subsidy to transport convicts to the British colonies in North America. Most of the people were transported for stealing and were typically banished for a period of 7 years, although some were exiled for 14 years or life depending on their crime.

Merchants preferred transporting young, able-bodied men who they could sell as indentured servants. Skilled tradesmen brought the highest prices. Sales were conducted on board ship by the local agent who sold the convicts in lots to local buyers. The purchase price of convicts was substantially less than that of slaves. Irish convicts were also sent to Virginia.

Convicts and Slaves at Newgate
William Carr Lane and James Lane operated a nearby store and engaged in the sale of transported convicts. Early tax ledgers list some of the convicts that resided on this property. John Barnard was transported for stealing wheat and Charles Clarke for stealing five geese. William Carr Lane also had from two to four slaves laboring at Newgate at any given time.

Most of the convicts sent to Virginia landed at ports on the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, including the ports of Alexandria and Dumfries.

(African Americans • Colonial Era) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

British Army River Crossing to Dolsen's Landing

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Ontario, The Municipality of Chatham-Kent, near Chatham
Upon sighting American war ships at the mouth of the Thames River on October 1, 1813, the British Army boarded scows and bateaux near this site. One by one, the boats and their cargo were pulled across the river to their next encampment site at Dolsen's Landing, a small but important commercial site in Dover Township established by Matthew and Hannah Dolsen. The settlement consisted of the Dolsen's log home, a store, a blacksmith shop, a distillery, and other outbuildings. Dolsen's Landing had an ideal location with a gentle sloping bank allowing for easy river access. An advance party had already established bake ovens on the site in preparation for the encampment.

Procter's army was now divided with Tecumseh and the First nations warriors remaining on the south shore of the river. Attempts to fortify Dolsen's as a defensive position were foiled when it was discovered that the necessary tools were buried at the bottom of a cargo ship that was upriver. The British encamped at Dolsen's Landing from October 1 to October 3, 1813.

(Native Americans • Settlements & Settlers • War of 1812) Includes location, directions, 9 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Boring Mill Overlook

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New York, Putnam County, Cold Spring

You are looking at the ruins of the boring mill, one of West Point Foundry’s vital centers and among the earliest buildings in the foundry complex. A large, two-story structure, the boring mill served several functions. The first floor was used for the manufacture of various products, while the second floor housed a pattern shop, where forms and molds for the molten iron were created and stored.

A hive of activity, the boring mill was filled with geared cranes, whirring lathes and other heavy machinery driven by a massive water wheel and leather belting system. The water that powered them came from an intricate series of headraces fed by Foundry Brook. Cannons, steam boilers, church bells and industrial hardware for cotton and sugar plantations in the U.S. and Caribbean were produced here in great numbers – setting the stage for America’s emergence as a major industrial power.

Water Wheel
The boring mill’s operations were driven by the powerful, 36-foot diameter water wheel housed adjacent to the main structure. The replica you see today depicts a section of the wheel at its original scale, located exactly where it stood during the foundry’s heyday.

Battery Pond
Just to the north is a two-tiered granite stone dam that held a reservoir of water – recycled from the foundry’s blast furnace and from additional run-off – that supplemented the considerable waterpower of Foundry Brook and its upstream dam, supplying the foundry’s water wheels and turbine that provided power to the gears and machinery. There were three ponds on the site, allowing West Point Foundry to operate year-round, even during dry seasons. This sophisticated system perfectly illustrates the innovation required to recreate and operate heavy machinery in the days before electricity.

A Powerful Force
Water has profoundly impacted the West Point Foundry site. Whether flowing, soaking, drying or freezing, it has played the greatest role in destroying and obscuring the history that remains here by cracking and eroding building ruins and decomposing artifacts that await discovery. As the foundry’s network of sluices, gates and dams decayed in the century after its operations ceased, water often flowed haphazardly over much of the site. Today, the conditions that made this ravine an ideal place for a water-powered enterprise – its steep elevation, powerful brook, healthy rainfall and proximity to the river – make it a challenge to protect. In an effort to alleviate flooding, Scenic Hudson has reinforced sections of Foundry Brook’s banks and maintains the preserve’s forest critical for soaking up water.

Putnam History Musuem
To learn more about West Point Foundry and see examples of its output – from Parrott gun projectiles to cast iron furniture – visit the Putnam History Museum, which features a permanent foundry exhibition as well as archival material related to the ironworks. Founded in 1906 to collect, preserve, and present historical and cultural material pertaining to Putnam County, the foundry, and the Hudson Highlands, the museum is located at 63 Chestnut Street (stop 8 on the Red Trail) in the former schoolhouse built for foundry apprentices and employees’ children.

( Sidebar : )
Under an illustration of the mill and water wheel:
1. Pattern storage area
2. Water wheel
3. Jib crane
4. Wheel lathe
5. Parrott guns on lathe
6. Power drive belts

This illustration depicts how the boring mill complex appeared during the Civil War, when the foundry was manufacturing Parrott guns.

One of the challenges of industrial archaeology is that, in many cases, structures such as these are fluid in their layout over time, with additional rooms added and others falling into disuse, reflecting new technologies, advances in raw materials and – above all else – changing fortunes in manufacturing. Understanding how these early industrial sites functioned in their time is a complex process, combining careful excavations with research into documentary evidence – surveyors’ maps, village records, personal diaries and sketchbooks, and other primary source material. Period photographs also are valuable tools that help archaeologists make sense of the ruins that remain at West Point Foundry Preserve today.

(Industry & Commerce • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 10 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Jewel of the Hudson

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New York, Putnam County, Cold Spring

West Point Foundry’s 1911 closing was a blow to Cold Spring, although many found work with the Hudson River Railroad and other industries. With the influx of new businesses in the Hudson Valley following World War II, the village began to enjoy a rebirth. (Residents also were attracted by the 80-minute commute to jobs in New York City.)

Recognizing the uniqueness of Cold Spring – it’s been hailed as one of the “best preserved 19th-century townscapes in the Hudson River region” – a large portion of the village, encompassing more than 200 buildings, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Today it is one of Putnam County’s prime tourist destinations, drawing visitors who enjoy the shops and restaurants along Main Street. Magnificent river views from its outstanding opportunities to connect with nature, either by launching a kayak or hiking in the Hudson Highlands. The trails and exciting interpretive features within Scenic Hudson’s 87-acre West Point Foundry Preserve are intended to connect people with Cold Spring’s fascinating heritage and awe-inspiring natural beauty.

All images from the collection of the Putnam History Museum.

(Industry & Commerce) Includes location, directions, 9 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The West Point Foundry School

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New York, Putnam County, Cold Spring

The school was built in 1830 for immigrant apprentices at the West Point Foundry, enlarged for workers’ children in 1867, and incorporated into the Philipstown school system until 1891. William H. Taylor, a former foundry superintendent (pictured with his daughter), bought the building in 1914 as a residence.

The Putnam County Historical Society, founded in 1906 and now known as the Putnam History Museum, purchased the building in 1960. A 2006 renovation restored the building’s 1867 design, adding new exhibition spaces (pictured on other side) and state-of-the-art facilities for the archives and collection.

An 1862 Currier & Ives lithograph (above) pictures two gentlemen viewing the foundry from an area behind the school.

The Putnam History Museum
The museum houses art, artifacts, and documents related to Putnam County, with an emphasis on the West Point Foundry, Philipstown, and the Hudson Highlands. John Ferguson Weir’s 1866 painting, The Gun Foundry (detail above), is part of a permanent installation about the West Point Foundry. Changing exhibitions significantly expand knowledge of the history of the Highlands and include works from the collection and other museums and private collections. The museum maintains a research library and organizes educational programs for children and adults, and special events.

To learn more about the foundry, visit Scenic Hudson’s West Point Foundry Preserve, entrance south on Chestnut Street.

(Education • Industry & Commerce) Includes location, directions, 12 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Ancient Exposed Rocks

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Minnesota, Yellow Medicine County, Granite Falls

About 13,000 years ago, glacial melt water that collected in a basin named Glacial Lake Agassiz burst through a natural earthen dike creating a huge torrent of water that carved the Minnesota River Valley as we see it today. There are places along the valley where the scouring force of this tremendous ancient river, named the Glacial River Warren, tore the earth so deeply that 3.6 billion year-old metamorphic gneiss bedrock become exposed. These gneiss outcrops are scattered all along the valley floor from Ortonville to Mankato and today harbor some very unique plant and animal communities that strive to exist in a harsh environment.

Glacial River Warren
The Glacial River Warren was not the first to flow this path, but the sheer volume of this ancient river carved a footprint upon this land that is recognizable from satellite images. The ancient Glacial River Warren valley reaches almost two miles wide in places and 130 feet deep in others. Today, the slow and usually peaceful Minnesota River remains as it winds its way through exposed bedrock knobs of ancient gneiss and stretches from Browns Valley to the river's confluence with the Mississippi River at Fort Snelling in Mendota, Minnesota.

Some of the oldest exposed rocks known on earth can be found in the Minnesota River valley. Geologists estimate the earth to be 4.5 billion years old, and some of the exposed bedrock in this part of the Minnesota River valley was created over three billion years ago during the Precambrian Era. Here in Memorial Park, throughout the city of Granite Falls, and nearby in the Blue Devil Valley Scientific and Natural Area, outcrops of 3.6 billion year old rock called gneiss (pronounced "nice") can be seen.

Gneiss is a banded metamorphic rock formed when granite and other rocks were subjected to intense heat and pressure deep beneath the earth's surface for long periods of time. The word "gneiss" comes from an old Saxon mining term that seems to have meant decayed, rotten, or possibly worthless material. While identifying gneiss from other rocks can be difficult, rocks in the upper part of the Minnesota River Valley showing minerals occurring in distinct bands are probably gneiss.

The rocks in this area are some of the oldest known exposed rock in North America. The only bedrock in the world currently known to be older than the bedrock in the Minnesota River Valley is bedrock that has only recently been identified in Greenland.

Five-lined Skink
The gneiss rock outcroppings here and throughout Memorial Park provide rare habitat for unique plant and animal communities. The five-lined skink requires an environment of open rock outcropping with nearby hardwood communities. The area in and around Memorial Park is one of the few places in Minnesota where this small reptile is found. Encroaching woody vegetation is limiting the skink's habitat today and may eventually eliminate this reptile from this site.

Lichen
Lichen are true pioneers. Lichen live in some of the most barren and inhospitable places. Lichen are a symbioses of two organisms, a fungus and algae. They are joined so completely that they behave and look like an entirely new being. Lichen can dissolve rock surfaces, begin the process of making soil, survive severe cold, and remain dormant for long periods without harm.

Cactus in Minnesota?
On the ancient gneiss outcroppings here in the Minnesota River Valley, three species of cactus have thrived for hundreds of years: the Plains Prickly Pear Cactus, the Brittle Prickly Pear Cactus and the Ball Cactus. The cactus's brief blooming time is in middle to late June.

A River's Legacy
From the Minnesota River's beginnings in the plains to its confluence into the Mississippi River, the river and its valley tell interesting tales of the ancient history and rich ecological diversity of the Upper Midwest. This is an important story to tell, as it is part of the overall effort to restore the Minnesota River and to connect people to the river and their own local environment.

The Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway
Funded in part by Federal Highway Administration
logos of: America's Byways; City of Granite Falls; Scenic Byway Minnesota River Valley
www.mnrivervalley.com
(partially unreadable due to truncation)

(Natural Features) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

From Forest to Factory to Forest

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New York, Putnam County, Cold Spring

( East Side Marker : )
The landscape abundant forest and untamed waterpower that drew Gouverneur Kemble to open West Point Foundry in 1818 underwent dramatic changes over its decades of operations. The area’s woodlands were denuded to produce charcoal for powering the furnaces. Foundry Brook was channelized into an intricate network of flumes, raceways and storage ponds that powered operations and regulated water flow through the site. It’s hard to picture more than 1,000 workers filling this narrow ravine, laboring day and night in a large-scale industrial complex. After foundry operations ceased, the site’s decay was gradual. Many above-ground remains were repurposed for building projects in the village, while invasive and non-native trees and other plants ultimately filled the mostly vacant site. Scenic Hudson removed tons of debris and reconstructed sections of stream banks to keep Foundry Brook within its historic channel, making it less likely to overflow and threaten foundry ruins.

( West Side Marker : )
Foundry Cove: Restoring & Protecting a Natural Treasure
Pre-1800

An incomparable setting.

1817-1911
From a testing platform where you are standing, foundry cannons were fired across the river.

1952-1979
The nearby Marathon Battery Company, which made batteries for military and commercial uses, dumped massive amounts of heavy metals and waste into Foundry Cove, polluting river sediments and poisoning wildlife.

1983-1996
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared Foundry Cove a Superfund site, initiating a $100-million cleanup dredging sediments and disposing of thousands of tons of contaminated soils.
Just prior to the EPA cleanup and restoration, archaeologists recovered 145,000 foundry-related artifacts.

1996
Scenic Hudson purchased the 87-acre foundry property to ensure its permanent protection as a public resource for recreation and education.

Today
Foundry Cove provides habitat for abundant wildlife and is a prime bird-watching and paddling destination.

(Horticulture & Forestry • Industry & Commerce) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
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