suns along the Mohawk

. .  Washington Ave.? . .

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.]

–  Burr Bridge end piers –

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:

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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):

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Finally, a few more views of the Washington Ave. deadend in Scotia, with Schenectady’s Riverside Park in the background, across the River:

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