Hike #1129; Manchester Bridge/Poughkeepsie to New Paltz

Hike #1129; Manchester Bridge/Poughkeepsie to New Paltz

5/19/18 Manchester Bridge/Poughkeepsie to New Paltz with Red Sean Reardon (Patrick Ó Ríoghbhardáin), Annika Krystyna, and James Quinn

This next hike would be a point to point between Poughkeepsie area and New Paltz NY, but it wasn’t really intended to be that way.

Trail head for Dutchess Rail Trail

My original plan was to do a hike in the Shawangunk Mountains. Weather was looking good initially, and it was going to be somewhat of a loop.
When weather was starting to look worse, I started looking at alternative plans. The next was an alternate loop hike that relied more heavily on woods roads and such, which are nice carriageways in the Minnewaska State Park Preserve. When weather took a turn for the worst, I looked over the maps yet again for something that would be more appropriate.

Swamp along Dutchess Rail Trail

There is a ton of stuff I still want to do in the New Paltz area, and I had about three other alternate trips ready to go. I narrowed it down to about two.
One of them would be a route on Wallkill Valley Rail Trail into Kingston from the south, which would be mostly rural and possibly no stops along the way. It will be a good hike whenever I do get to doing that one. The other was a route from the east, which would finally connect me with “Walkway Over the Hudson”, the largest pedestrian bridge in the world.

Dutchess Rail Tral

The old “Bridge Line” turned just to the east of New Paltz, and could be reached pretty easily from the grocery store where we had met. I’d done other hikes out of this point before, and so we’d be connected in with everything anyway.
I had scaled a route that would begin to the east of Poughkeepsie, at a place known as Manchester Bridge. The rain ended up coming on stronger than anticipated, but fortunately it was never at the level of a downpour. We ended up doing the right hike for the day.

Dutchess Rail Trail

We jumped in my van and started heading to the east across the Mid Hudson bridge. We could see the huge Highland-Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge from the toll bridge to our left. I’d walked over it once with Jillane, and really enjoyed it, and I plan to do it again as part of a larger group hike, but this would be the connection between. The rail trail itself wouldn’t be so interesting to do on a nice day, so we would get that out of the way here.

Historic photo of the Manchester Bridge during rail removal from collection of Austin McEntee

We headed east to find a place to park, but first needed to stop and buy umbrellas. We stopped at several gas stations and even a thrift store, and finally found an umbrella that would do the trick at a local pharmacy.

Manchester Bridge

We parked at a lot I found at the corner of Rt 55 and Old Manchester Road. It was at this point that the railroad, which is now Dutchess Rail Trail, used to cross over 55 as well as the Wappinger Creek.
Manchester Bridge, with all of these crossings, was the longest bridge on the line.
This section was originally part of the Dutchess County Railroad, which built southeast from the Highland-Poughkeepsie Bridge to Hopewell Junction where it made direct connection with the New York and New England Railroad, giving that line access to the Hudson crossing.

Removal of Manchester Bridge in '83, by Austin McEntee

The Manchester Bridge, formerly an arched concrete span, was removed in 1983.

New Manchester Bridge

These railroad connections were among the most important in American railroad history, because prior to this, slow car float operations ferried trains across the Hudson.

Manchester Bridge destruction by Austin McEntee

There was an earlier plan for a railroad to be built across the Hudson at about the point of the present day Bear Mountain Bridge, but it never materialized, and little work was done.

New Manchester Bridge

The Poughkeepsie span was chartered in 1871, and the first train rolled over it on December 29th, 1888.
The bridge was a pinch point. It was relied upon by all of those railroads we’ve hiked that siphoned in to the Hudson. The New Haven Railroad and it’s predecessors relied on the bridge from Hartford and areas east, and the lines we had followed for years, such as the Lehigh and Hudson River and Lehigh and New England made connections to this bridge via the Maybrook Line.

End of the new Manchester Bridge

After the mergers and the formation of Penn-Central, the bridge was burned by an arsonist on May 8th of 1974. Many people believe it was the railroad company itself, because Penn Central had a competitor in the Erie-Lackawanna which used it also.
After the fire, about seven hundred feet of the bridge was wrecked. Tracks and ties were removed from that part because pieces were falling below.

Burnt Poughkeepsie Bridge, 1974

The bridge never re-opened for rail service, and spelled the end for the Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad. It also led to the removal of the former Dutchess County Railroad and it’s bridges in 1983, and the Maybrook connection on the west side as well.
The bridge opened to pedestrian traffic in 2009, at which time it was the longest pedestrian bridge in the world. It has since been surpassed, be believe by a foot bridge in Russia.
We crossed over the new Manchester Bridge over the Wappinger Creek and Rt 55. It was an interestingly angled bridge, which turned a couple of times, not quite exactly where the railroad used to cross.
Three of the original six concrete bridges on the line were removed in the 1990s, Manchester, as well as the Maloney Road Bridge, and the Diddell Road Bridge.
The original Manchester Bridge was just over 448 feet long, consisting of six concrete arch spans and two plate girder spans. The new bridge is a combination of steel truss and girders in four separate spans.

Page Park Drive crossing

Once across the bridge, we didn’t quite resume the recognizable railroad grade. We went down hill and crossed Page Park Drive, weaving back and forth a bit through a sort of commercial complex.
After this point, we ascended and picked up the more conventional railroad grade. The trail was paved the entire way to the Poughkeespie Bridge, but I suppose it made it less slippery for us walking in the rain.

We passed by a beautiful wetland on the right as we walked, high up on a fill.

Dutchess Rail Trail

We went around a bend, and crossed over Overocker Road where there was more trail parking. We then continued north and passed beneath Route 44.
We then passed into an area known as Brickyard Hill, in the section of Poughkeepsie known as Arlington.
In the 1790s, there was just a swamp in this area where the Casper Kill flowed through. By the early 1800s, clay mining and brick manufacturing had taken over most of the swamp lands. Brickyard Hill was originally the Rogers Farm.

Brick yard area

Carbofrax bricks, made with carborendum, which included silica, were produced here, and good for making high stress bricks such as those used to line kilns.
The different brick manufacturers at the site produced 4.5 million bricks per year.
The last brick undustry in the area here closed in the 1940s.
Also at about the point of the brick yard property, the earlier 1992 alignment of the New York and New England Railway broke off of the later route to the right. I didn’t notice it right away.

Smart asses

We walked north and crossed over the Casper Creek, then crossed Van Wagner Road on a former rail bridge that remains intact.
When we got to the next road crossing, Grand Avenue, we could see that there was an authentic signal tower still in place, and restored, with “CP Grand” written on it.
Despite the crummy weather, there were quite a lot of cyclist heading toward us through this area. I think there was some sort of bike trip going on with a group. There was also a group of scouts or something.

Old signal restored

We continued on a nice fill ahead, and I stopped to read all of the interpretive signs along the way.
Soon, we crossed the Salt Point Turnpike. Some of the railroads that ran to the Poughkeepsie Bridge passed through Salt Point, but many of these were abandoned early on. The first one, the Poughkeepsie and Connecticut, was abandoned in 1910, and the others in that area were all abandoned by the late 1930s I believe.

The rail bed

The rail bed remained on a good height fill, higher up than the original 1892 right of way to the east. To the north of us was the lovely St. Peters Cemetery.
The St. Peters Cemetery was an example of a “rural” or “garden” cemetery. By the mid 1800s, burial space was getting scarce, and so new cemeteries were designed as civic institutions, really the first area parks, where people could go and enjoy nature among the monuments.

St. Peters Cemetery was founded in 1853 by Father Michael Riordan (maybe relation of Red Sean!), and had the world’s largest Celtic cross at one time.
We moved ahead, and sooon reached the crossing of the Fallkill. This creek had a bridge abutment further down below us, more of the original 1892 New York and New England Railway route. We continued across the Fallkill, and then crossed over Creek Road.

Morgan Lake

Ahead, Morgan Lake, part of Morgan Lake Park, came into view on the south side of the rail bed. There were always more places we could wander off to explore with more time.

Spur line thingy

When we crossed the Fallkill, we were also crossing both the New York and New England Railroad, as well as the Poughkeepsie and Eastern, which closely paralleled one another. A lot of this merits much further exploration, because there are a lot of parks along the way that would make them pretty well accessible.
There was a golf course on the south side of the rail bed, down below, and we also passed by a spur or siding off to the right.

Old whistle marker

We passed beneath Route 9G, Parker Avenue, and continued ahead. There were still occasional railroad related things like a whistle marker post.
In this area, there was an angry looking Robin, sitting along side the tracks to the right. I went over and took a photo of it before moving on.
We soon crossed over Buckingham Avenue at grade and continued ahead to the west.

A Robin

We soon reached Fairview Avenue and crossed over it on a former railroad bridge.

Underpass

It was getting close to noon, and everyone was getting pretty hungry, so we started looking around for options on what to eat. I was thinking we’d end up walking further down into Poughkeepsie to find anything good.
Just after Fairview, we could see there was some sort of strip mall just below to the left, and there was a paved connector trail down to the road below to the left. We opted to go down here.

Parker Ave underpass

In the strip mall was a little Mexican eatery known as Lafonda. It was right there, which was perfect. We didn’t have to deviate very far.
We went in, sopping wet and dripping, but no one minded.
Annika started off by ordering I think it was a nacho thing or something we shared as I recall.
They also brought out some really good chips, which might have been home made or something. A small tray came out with three different kinds of salsa, two reds and a green.

Grade crossing

There was one hot, and the others were mild or somewhere in between. I started out trying the hot one, and after several bites it was still find. Unfortunately, it crept up on me and then got too hot in the aftertaste, so I switched between the green and the mild red for the rest of the time there.
I think I got the chicken encaladas, but I can’t quite remember. I do remember it being very good, and the rice was moist but not super seasoned.

Approaching

By the time we were ready to leave, I was feeling really stuffed.
We made our way out of the place and returned to the railroad bed via the ramped access trail.
We continued ahead and crossed over what was probably another railroad right of way, shown on Google maps as CSX Utility Corridor.
We continued ahead and soon approached the start of “Walkway Over The Hudson”, the Poughkeepsie Bridge.

Overpass

It was a big deal for me to finally be doing a hike over this point. I had been hearing of and reading of this bridge forever. When I finally walked across it for the first time, It was kind of surreal.
The first time that really sticks out reading about it was in one of my friend Fank Dale’s miniature books on the history of the towns of Warren County, where he credited the burning of this bridge with why the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway failed.

Lunch

I had other friends that visited the bridge before it was opened as a park. My friend Bode told me he had been out on it when it was still officially closed, during a sort of “official” public tour for people who were a part of their member group or something.

Bathroom selfie

We passed by the large parking area for the bridge, and then went by a bunch of fenced in areas where they are building some sort of new welcome center for the bridge or something. I’m not sure what.
The site can be really busy in good weather. They have vendor cars and such along the top of it, and it can get pretty crazy.
Once we got beyond the crossing with Washington Street, we were officially on the bridge.
The last time I was up there, some of the people who lived under the bridge had put up all sorts of blinder fencing and such because they hated the project, but from what I could see, this time it was all taken down.
James started going on about how he wanted to go to the old Hudson hospital to the north, much of which is now burned down or demolished. A lot of my friends have gone up and through that facility, but I never bothered with it for whatever reason. We could see some of the facility from the bridge.

1912 postcard of the bridge

Even though the weather was crummy, we still passed a good amount of people here.

View of the east side shortly after the bridge was closed; Austin McEntee collection

The bridge had been outfitted with giant concrete pads atop the original framework.

The same view today

We continued out across to the center of the bridge where we had great views up and down the Hudson. We could see and compare historic photos with what it looks like now.

Historic image from the Poughkeepsie Bridge

I would love to spend some more time out there getting more comparative stuff, but we didn’t have the time to be hanging around, it was a long way to go.

The same view today

We had some great views of the Mid Hudson Bridge to the south, a very handsome suspension bridge (Officially the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Mid Hudson Bridge).

Mid Hudson Bridge

The Mid Hudson Bridge was opened in 1930, and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were present for the opening ceremony.
Although both the Bear Mountain Bridge and the Holland Tunnel were both under construction at the time, when the bridge began construction, there was still no other fixed crossing south of Albany.

1974 burning of the bridge

We continued across, and took lots of photos along the way.
While we moved, there was a guy out on the bridge that seemed to turn as we passed.

The bridge

I didn’t think too much of it, but the guy did seem to turn and follow us. I thought he seemed to stop and hold back while we stopped, but then I thought I was being paranoid.

View north from the bridge

As we got further across the bridge, Annika mentioned that the guy was freaking her out a bit. So, it wasn’t just me. We decided not to say anything and just keep moving off of the bridge.
When we got to the other side, a mock railroad station had been constructed, but was not yet open. We went by it and continued out along the former Maybrook line to where they had a caboose parked along the right of way to the right. There were maps, and other stuff available at a box that I grabbed a few of before moving on.

Caboose

From here, the trail is known as Hudson Valley Rail Trail. We followed it beneath Mile Hill Road, and then beneath Rt 44. The rail bed was built up higher than it used to be because apparently it had flooded pretty badly. A connecting path came in from the left, which must lead into the Hamlet of Highland.
When we got to Linwood Avenue, there was still a railroad station standing off to the left, which was pretty cool. I can’t for the life of me find an historic photo of this one though.

Highland Station

We moved on ahead and passed beneath Vineyard Ave, and then passed another old signal that had been restored.
We passed along closely to the backs of back yards and moved closer to Rt 12, and soon came to a mock up station and another old caboose parked next to the trail. It was in this area that the earlier New York and New England 1889 alignment moved off to the right.

Caboose...

I didn’t know this was there at the time or maybe we’d have tried to follow it. Clearly, I’m going to go back and try to trace this on another occasion. It apparently has an old box car on it.
We crossed New Paltz Road where it crossed the earlier alignment again, and then moved off ahead where that alignment crossed yet again. South of here is Illinois Mountain Park, all of which I also want to explore, so there’s plenty more to do.
We continued on and crossed the right of way yet again, which had a separate bridge over the Black Creek ahead. When we got to the Black Creek crossing, which had some limited views ot the north, there was a set of steps going down where we could view the old culvert underpass. We checked it out, and then moved on toward Centerville. The trail officially terminated here at Tony Williams Town Park.

Old Maybrook Line

I found out by driving over that clearing had begun on this bit of the railroad ahead, and that the next time we came out it might be completed rail trail. That made it more important to do this section earlier.
From the park, we went past contractors equipment; they had a generator running a pump twenty four seven with coffer dams in place to keep water from washing out a section ahead. We continued walking to where it got dry, and we were in a deep cut. The original line remained to the south of this point on private land. Soon, we passed beneath Riverside Road via a culvert.
Not long after that, we crossed Highland Lloyd Road, then reached the former crossing where the track had crossed the Black Creek.
Black Ceek was an interesting spot. The old concrete bridge had it’s top completley removed recently, and orange fencing was erected around it. We had to climb down to the left, where there was an old road passing over the creek, just above a scenic waterfall. We could cross the creek on the road, then climb back up to the rail bed on the other side.

Black Creek falls

After we got up on the other side of the former Black reek bridge, we came to where the earlier railroad alignment rejoined from the left, but I didn’t notice it at all. We continued ahead on the right of way, which had sand bags on either side as a preventative measure to keep it from further washing out. The ties and ballast had all been removed from the right of way completely as we walked ahead to an access point on Rt 12.

The gone bridge

We kept moving past this site, and passed over someone’s driveway. We saw someone come out and walk over the right of way. I know these people hate this project coming through, you can just tell by how they probably had to move some of their garbage off of it.

Another Black Creek Bridge

We soon crossed over the Black Creek again, but it was smaller at this point. The bridge had had all fill removed from on top of it, so maybe they’ll rip it out and build something else, who knows.
We continued ahead, and soon came to a development trailer park place known as Highland Woods. Some of the trailers are partially put over the railroad bed, and most of the lawns extend over them, so the trail was cleared and turned off to the right, soon to closely parallel Route 299. We passed tnhe entrance to the place, ad then could see the rail bed returning to what was cleared for the trail. It didn’t stay that way though; the rail bed was partially plowed away I think for a retention pond or something, I think at a go go bar, and we could just see the black dirt from the coal fill partially in place on the other side.

The rail bed near the trailer park

The trail as they were building it was just on the edge of the highway at this point, and all work seemed to end before we got to South Street. The railroad turned to the south at that point, and so if it is to continue down toward Maybrook, it will take a lot more clearing down there.
We left the rail bed at this point and crossed over Rt 299. We walked through the lot of Rodeway Inn and Suites, and then cut through a line of trees from that property into the Lloyd Cemetery, or “Cemetery of Loyd” as it reads at the north entrance. We walked the length of the cemetery, and read some of the old stones.

It was quite a nice walk, and just before we exited the cemetery, we found a grave that read “Vlamis” with a giant cheeseburger on top of it. I think Red Sean and James both looked up Vlamis Burger and it was some sort of local establishment.

Swamp view on Swarte Kill

We left the cemetery and turned left on New Paltz Road, Old Rt 299 and crossed the Swarte Kill, which is a wide, swampy creek. It was a much more pleasant walk following this older alignment than the big wide new one. We followed this out to where it becomes a concrete dead end highway, at a spot called Ohioville I guess. We had to get on the main road there, which took us across Rt 87 on the big Route 299. Immediately on the other side was the grocery store where we had parked, to finish our hike.
This was a really good trunk hike that opened us up to so many more hikes in different areas we could do, and I don’t think we could have had a better route considering all of the crummy weather. There will certainly be more to come built off of this one.

Maybrook Museum photo