Schenectady (L) . . Washington Ave. deadend and balustrade . . Scotia (R)
A large percentage of my photographs are taken while standing or squatting at the end of Washington Avenue, Schenectady NY, on or near the abutment that once supported the Burr Bridge. After a troubled start (described irreverently by me in 2005 at f/k/a), the 997-foot bridge was completed in 1808 and spanned the Mohawk River between Schenectady and Scotia, NY. It was a covered wooden bridge until 1871, and then an iron bridge, which was condemned in 1926 and removed in 1936. See “Bridging the Mohawk” by John Gara and John Garver of the Union College Geology Department. [As always, you can click on a photo to see a larger version, or scroll over it for a description.]
Schenectady, NY . . Washington Ave. bridge abutments . . Scotia, NY
The 1871 iron version of the Burr Bridge was also known as the Glenville Bridge or the Washington Avenue Bridge, connecting Schenectady’s Washington Ave. with its namesake in Scotia. Although the bridge’s piers were finally removed from the Mohawk River in 1946, its end piers (abutments) still exist where the respective Washington Avenues meet the River.
. . . . Burr Bridge demolition plaque
. . . . . before the bridge, there were ferries
Last Monday, on a lazy Labor Day afternoon, I decided to finally spend some time at the Scotia end of the erstwhile Burr Bridge, where Washington Ave. intersects with Schonowee Avenue and ends at the Mohawk River. It gave me the opportunity to capture some Stockade Views as seen from the “other” Washington Avenue deadend.
Here are my first photos of the northside of the Isle of the Cayugas and the Western Gateway Bridge, taken from the deadend of Washington Avenue, Scotia, NY:
. . . Here are views from the Scotia Burr Bridge abutment, looking eastward and then westward across the Mohawk River:
And, some of my favorite features of Riverside Park look pretty good from Scotia’s Washington Avenue deadend (through my PowerShot’s 12x optical lens):
. . .
Finally, a few more views of the Washington Ave. deadend in Scotia, with Schenectady’s Riverside Park in the background, across the River:
Iam sorry I didn’t reply sooner but with health problems and 4 deaths in my husband family this year close together, this wasn’t the greatest of years. That’s enough of that.
Your pictures are beautiful and breath-taking. I can’t wait till the snow flies, what you will do with it! That was my favorite season when I was younger.
I hope you are planning in the near future to have “A Show of Your Pictures”. That’s so exciting to have, My daughter and I had three shows, 2 in Northville and one in the Stockade in our back yard. It’s something to watch people’s face expressing oh’s and ah’s. Please plan on doing something soon.
By: Helen Witts on October 16, 2009
at 2:38 pm
Helen, Thank you again for offering such kind words about this website and photos. I am sorry to hear that you’ and your family have had such a bad year, and I hope your health has improved.
It’s nice of you to think I could have a successful photo exhibition. I don’t have any plans to hold a show, however. In fact, I have never printed out any of the photographs you’ve seen here at this weblog, nor made a photo-quality print of any photograph I’ve ever taken. I like dealing in digital photos (no prints, no frames, easy to share), keeping my hobby very inexpensive.
It will be interesting to see whether this winter brings lovely sights that need to be memorialized in photographs. Some folks might point out that they would easily do without the photos, if they could avoid an ice storm, ice jam on the River, or blizzard.
Very best wishes to you and yours.
By: David Giacalone on October 16, 2009
at 7:14 pm
[…] bridge that replaced this was in service until 1926 (and torn down ten years later), its abutment is still visible at the end of Washington Avenue. In fact, an aerial view of the Washington Avenues in Schenectady […]
By: Another view of the Burr Bridge – Hoxsie! on August 1, 2022
at 3:05 pm