Looking toward Pennsylvania
Cable anchor on the New York side.
Looking toward New York.
A few miles beyond the Hawk's Nest, just below where the Lackawaxen empties into the Delaware, is this curious one-lane bridge. The roadbed is sunken well below the walkways on either side. There's a reason for that! The bridge was originally an aqueduct, designed to carry canal boats loaded with coal from Pennsylvania across the river. Before the aqueduct was built in 1848 a slackwater dam (I'll put a photo on Flickr sometime soon) was built to slow the Delaware's flow so canal boats could be floated to the other side of the river. Building the aqueduct greatly reduced the time needed to get the boats across the river.
From there the Delaware and Hudson (D&H) canal headed northeastward to the Hudson River near Kingston. Then the coal headed downstream to New York City. In the mid-19th century the D&H Canal Co. was one of the country's largest private companies. Railroads didn't become more efficient carriers of coal until the late-1800s.
The aqueduct has a wire suspension design. Each of the suspension cables contains 2150 wires, spun on site and bunched into seven strands. This is John Roebling's earliest surviving suspension bridge. Roebling later designed and began construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. He also built three other suspension bridges along the D&H Canal but they are long gone.
The aqueduct was turned into a private toll bridge following the closing of the canal in 1898. The bridge slowly fell into disrepair. The National Park Service bought the bridge in 1980 and restored much of it, the cables and ironwork are original, in 1986.
Today's quiz: Without resorting to the Internets, what famous author lived on the Pennsylvania side of the bridge in the early 20th century (and is resting there in the early 21st century)?
Today's updates:
- Nobody appears to be familiar with nesselrode pie. We may have to take corrective action.
- Only one guess on the tomato age. Said age will be revealed Saturday!
Zane Grey My parents grew up in Lackawaxen. I've crossed the Roebling bridge many times in my life.
Posted by: Denise | 20 November 2014 at 07:34 PM