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WHERE IS IT?

[Post card from Century House Historical Society Collection]
This is a more modern real photo post card. It was mailed from Kingston, NY, December 21,1942 as a Christmas card. Here is a clue. If it was cold enough you would be able to go ice skating nearby.

November 2001 WHERE IS IT?

and the answer is

The picture in the November Prologue is difficult to pin down because the date is unknown and there are no outstanding landmarks except for the rock formations, which are rather common in the West Hurly area.

Marbletown Road ran from the western edge of West Hurley’s previous location (prior to the Ashokan Reservoir) southwesterly to what is now called Pacama in the Town of Marbletown. Today that same road mostly exists and is called Spillway Road. In traveling that road today, there is no obvious rock formation matching the picture. However, the West Hurley (northern end) of old Marbletown Road was cut off by Route 28A when the reservoir was constructed, so the portion between Route 28A and the previous West Hurley is either under water or on N.Y. City property and is inaccessible to the public. Since that portion of the road would be close to the previous West Hurley, the picture could have been taken there.

The only other clue is the slop to the road. Previous West Hurley was at a lower elevation than the land to the south along Marbletown Road. That is one reason that there are so few dikes on the Ashokan Reservoir, the land forming a natural basin. So the picture could have been taken looking east on this cut off section of Marbletown Road, with previous West Hurley to the lefty and the road extending to Pacama on the right.

Sincerely, Ernest M. Myer [ Marbletown Road has been highlighted on the 1875 Beer’s Atlas of Ulster County map.]