Along the train tracks on Paper Mill Lane

I have no idea what years this electrical box was used and like the shack further up the tracks there was the same type of barrels there. I would love to know what was in the barrel.

Remnants of a bridge crossing the Brodhead Creek

The bridge was washed out in the Flood of 1955 and never rebuilt. It crossed the Brodhead Creek from Post Office Road to Paper Mill Lane. The bridge was about 100 years old and from what I have been told, it was the first bridge of the original Seven Bridges Road. The second bridge of Seven Bridges Road is the still-existing bridge near the Minisink Hotel. Tinkertown Crossing was nearby and crossed the railroad tracks somewher on Paper Mill Lane. I searched for signs of it but could not locate any.

Train track abutments that supported train crossing over Delaware River from NJ to PA

These structures date back to the early 1800's. My friend, Gary and I took a canoe trip around them in 2002. They are pretty massive. The one closest to the PA side, as you can see, is falling over. The tracks continued on right into the heart of Minisink Hills and along the Brodhead Creek across from the paper mill (now RockTenn) and connected to train tracks a little past the Interstate 80 overpass. These tracks are still in use today. I have always found these structures fascinating. The railroad that originally built these abutments was called the New York, Susquehanna & West Railroad. The first photo is where the trains tracks used to be. The land around the road is quite marshy on one side and must have been difficult to raise it up about ten to twelve feet to support the weight of trains.

Minisink Hills Antique & Classic Auto Restoration / Minisink Hills Auto Body

This is on Old Mill Road. It doesn't look like they're open for business. I am trying to find out the years that it operated. It was also called Minisink Hills Auto Body.

More exploration of where the railroad went through Minisink Hills

Today I again walked where the railroad ran through Minisink Hills. I had to do further investigation into some initials and dates carved onto one of the supports that that held the train tracks over what I am now led to believe was the old location of Seven Bridges Road. There are indeed initials carved into the stone with the years 1888 and 1887. On one of the supports is a concrete plaque with the year 1888 on it. I am pretty positive when I assume that the plaque was put there by the railroad company and the initials and dates were carved into the stone by some workers when that section of the tracks and supports were close to being complete or completed. I tried doing rubbings of the initials and years but the surface of the stone was too uneven. I was able to trace the outline of the initials and dates by placing a piece of paper over them and using a pencil. I decided to walk up to the train tracks that are still being used. There is a private property sign marked "Delaware Lackawanna Railroad Pennsylvania Northeast." The steel train rails are marked "328 RE OH CARNEGIE USA 1944." I walked along the tracks about 150 yards and came to an old shed along the tracks. Inside I saw things that looked like they had electrical wires attached to them. This shed may have been a switching station near where the old tracks met with the tracks that are still being used. There were also a lot of old rusted out metal cans nearby.  There were manufacturer names indented on the bottoms but they were just too hard to make out. I also saw some old utility poles that looked 1920ish or maybe earlier. On my way back there was a man that was maybe 25 years my senior. I panicked a little and I thought he was from the paper mill checking on trespassers. Nope. His name is Ed and he was out looking for clues of the original location of Seven Bridges Road (now Route 209N from the Days Inn to Marshalls Creek). We got to talking about the area and he mentioned Hillside Drive, which is where I live. He then told me that he knows Willie Schmitt whose father built Schmitt's Mountain Resort in the 1940's  (now the apartment complex, Pierce's Landing, where I live). Hopefully, I can get an audience with Mr. Schmitt and find out some information about when exactly Schmitt's was built (I found a newspaper ad from 1948). Ed and I exchanged contact info and hopefully we'll have historical information that we can share. On my walk back I found a very worn railroad spike where the tracks used to be which as geeky as it sounds, excited me because I know have a railroad spike from the railroad  as well as pieces of coal from a train. This was a pretty exciting couple of hours for me.

Remnant of Seven Bridges Road and a chance-in-a-million meeting!

Today I was walking along where the train ran along the Brodhead Creek. I walked further past the Interstate 80 overpass and met Ed, a man about 25 years older than me. He was researching the original location of Seven Bridges Road. I learned that this bridge in Minisink Hills was part of that road (the road is now called Post Office Road because there used to be a post office on it). We got to talking about the area and he mentioned Hillside Drive. I told him that I lived there since 1994 and it turns out he knows Willie Schmitt whose father built Schmitt's Mountain Rest in the 1940's. It's now called Pierce's Landing and has been an apartment complex since 1994. Hopefully I will be able to meet Mr. Schmitt and get some more info and maybe even photos of the old resort. I exchanged contact info with Ed and we're going to keep in touch. I wasn't even going to go walking this route today because it looked like rain. If I hadn't gone walking, or started walking 15 minutes later I would have never met Ed. I am hoping that we will be able to share some valuable historical information. Thanks, Ed!

Creepy little structure on River Road...

I've been seeing this little structure for as long as I've been living in the area and I never thought about looking inside until today. It sits about forty feet off of River Road. For years I assumed it was built for school kids to stand in and wait for the school bus (not that I ever saw kids anywhere near it). I'm guessing it was a well. I know an expert on this type of stuff and I will get his opinion about the engine inside when I see him later in the week.