History Along the Mohawk

Dave and I have lived in this area our whole lives...he grew up on one side of the river, and I grew up on the other. It's hard to believe that neither one of us have ever explored the Stockade area of Schenectady, which is almost in our backyard. There is so much history here with it being settled in the late 1600's by the the Dutch, and there are still around 200 of the old homes still left. There was a huge massacre and the stockaded village was burned in the year 1690. A statue of 'Lawrence' is in the center of the area to honor the Indian who encouraged the settlers to rebuild.

Dave brought his bike down to the beautiful riverfront park and while he rode around, I did some investigating on foot.

 

 

I came across this old wall along the waterfront and wondered how old it was.

Look Mom, you could live on Green Street here too.

You can really see the Dutch influence in the building architecture.

The First Reformed Church has records dating back to 1680! 

I was really impressed with how many of the old homes have been kept up and many of sidewalks were still slate. Maintenance must be difficult, especially since it is flood prone from the rising waters of the Mohawk River.

The doorways were so picturesque...

For a complete history lesson about the Stockade click HERE. It really is interesting!

The Paver Project

Dave has been working on replacing the concrete path in the back of our house. When his father put this skinny little walkway in many years ago, he put it right under the drip edge of the roof.

We've wanted to remedy the situation since before Dave shattered his femur and wrist. While I was in Daytona recovering from my surgery,  Dave saw that someone on Craig's List was selling paver stones at a much reduced cost, and this made him wonder if it was an option instead of concrete. Coincidentally, the seller had the same amount that we would need, and said that if Dave drove his equipment flatbed trailer out to his house in Altamont and left it overnight, he and his workers would load it up as they removed the stones from his walkway. That cinched the deal and all Dave had to do was pick up his trailer the following day...if only it was that easy! There were so many pavers that the weight of them totally compressed the springs and the tires were flattening out. Luckily, Jim R. came to his rescue (again!) with his larger truck and they transferred some of the blocks to the back of the truck, removing some of the weight. It was still a scary trip back home, wondering if the trailer was going to make it.

Then came the prep work with jack hammering the old concrete and cutting off an old metal pipe that must have been from the old water heater. Plus he installed a drainage system for the rainwater runoff like we did on the side of the house last fall. Needless to say, Dave's wrist was 'screaming' at him the whole time. After I returned, but still couldn't go out much due to the open wound, Dave laid out, leveled, and tamped down the dirt path. He set up a grid pattern of the different sized stones and with the help of John and Jim, it was completed in a few days.

What a difference it makes, and so wide and easy to walk on. Our yard looks more like a park setting all the time!

Finally Back On Track!

Our summer certainly has had a slow start because of my forehead surgery and the rainy, cool weather. We have been going to some our normal annual events, but have not taken photos because everything was pretty the much the same as previous years. If you would like a recap, you can always go back to the past few year's posts. ;-)

However, we are now getting back into the swing of things, and we took a long overdue hike to our favorite spot in the Adirondacks, up on Mt. Defiance between Lake George and Lake Champlain. We haven't been here in the 2 1/2 years since Dave's accident.

 Lake George...and notice I am finally able to wear a hat after 7 weeks!

 

 

Lake Champlain...and I still wonder how someone got that picnic table up there.

 

I may not be writing as much this summer since we don't have internet access up in Ticonderoga. If you don't see any future posts for awhile, you will know that we are up north having fun and making up for lost time.