Vassar Farms, Poughkeepsie, NY

Photos of some of the agricultural buildings on the property known as Vassar Farms, owned by Vassar College, in Poughkeepsie, NY.  Since these photos were taken, they renovated a portion of the main barn (dairy wing).  According to the website for the Environmental Cooperative, Vassar College purchased the property in the early 1900s and moved its farming operation, which supplied much of the food for the college, from the main campus to this nearby property.  This move of operations “necessitated the construction of a poultry farm, stables, greenhouses, storage barns, and a model dairy barn. By the 1950s, the farming operation was no longer economically viable; all of the cows were sold, and the Vassar Farm stopped producing its own vegetables and milk products.”

More Information:  The Environmental Cooperative at the Vassar Barns

Location:  Google Maps (41.678131, -73.897138)

Wyndclyffe Mansion, Rhinebeck, NY

According to the Hudson Valley Ruins website, this former mansion in Rhinebeck, NY, the mansion was “built in 1853 for Elizabeth Schermerhorn Jones, a relative by marriage to the wealthy Astor Family… A later owner was Andrew Finck, New York City beer baron and a cooper by trade, and associate of brewer Jacob Rupert, of nearby Linwood. Wyndclyffe, then known as Linden Hall or Finck Castle, supposedly had an underground tap line from the mansion to the tennis courts.  The house was a private residence until 1936, and was finally abandoned for good sometime after 1950. Wyndclyffe remained remarkably [sic] intact through the 1980s, but decay worsened as abandonment neared the end of a half-century.”

These photographs are from 2015.

More Information:  Hudson Valley Ruins (including photos over time from 1999 to 2010)

Location: Google Maps (41.8869454, -73.9360088)

Williams Lumber, Salt Point, NY

These are photos of the Williams Lumber properties at 58 and 47 Cottage Street, Hamlet of Salt Point, Town of Pleasant Valley, NY.

Based on review of several sources, including documents obtained and summarized by Dieter Friedrichsen, a former Pleasant Valley Town employee, the 58 Cottage Street property has been an integral part of the history of the Salt Point area.  In the 1700s and 1800s, the area contained a mill due to the location of a waterfall on the Wappingers Creek.  The mill was located in the current basement of Building 1.  Grains were brought to the mill to be ground.  A wagon shop at one point also existed on the property.  At this time the property was an island surrounded by a split in the Wappingers Creek.

In 1871, a railroad was created along the eastern side of the property at 58 Cottage Street and was used for transportation of materials.  Also photographed are abutments from the railroad bridge that used to cross the Wappingers Creek north of 58 Cottage Street.  Around 1910, the property was a coal yard and may have also sold lumber and feed.  Several sheds were located on the property at various times.  The use of this property as a coal and lumber yard and a feed store continued.  In at least the 1960s, the property sold fuel oil.  The site became Williams Lumber during the mid 1970s.  As of 2010, the site was Williams Lumber & Home Centers.

The history of the property at 47 Cottage Street is unknown.  According to topographic maps, the property seems undeveloped until the 1960s.  Two barns (buildings #7 & #8) in poor condition occupied the property.

Locations:  58 Cottage Street (41.806323, -73.793879), 47 Cottage Street (41.805580, -73.794085)

Yonkers Public Bath #3, Yonkers, NY

I came across this building one day and could not resist photographing it.  According to this website, it was built in 1909 and is an example of a Second Renaissance Revival style municipal building.  The same website has a lot of information about the public bath movement in America.

More information:  Website

Location:  Google Maps (40.935369, -73.889152)

WWII Submarine Observation Tower, Ormond-By-The-Sea, FL

These are photos of a World War II era coastal watch tower that was used to spot German submarines.  This is one of many such towers that were built along the eastern coastline.  The tower was recognized as a historic site in the mid 1990s and refurbished in 2005.

More information: Ormond Beach Historical Society

Location: Google Maps (29.346930, -81.065100)

Sunnyridge, Route 55, Poughkeepsie, NY

There are several storefronts constructed to the front of this older residential structure on Route 55 in Poughkeepsie.  Based on a Facebook post in a Pougkeepsie-related group, this strip included Becks Farm Market, Karl Ehmer’s Meats, and Harold’s Drive-In in the late 1960s/1970s.  The historic photos are courtesy of Tom Beck (digitized from 8mm home movies) who posted these to Facebook and dated them from about 1965.

Location: Google Maps (41.688145, -73.881044)

NY-56 Missile Launch Site, Sandy Hook, NJ

These are photos of a Nike missile launch site in Sandy Hook, NJ.  It was part of New York’s last line of defense against potential Soviet nuclear attack.  I also have photos of the missile control/radar site, which can be found here.

Here is some site information, quoted from the source below: “The original Fort Hancock was improved upon during the Civil War, and in the 1890s vast concrete gun batteries and mortar pits were built to protect Manhattan. At one point over 7,000 soldiers lived here in an army town that included rows of grand yellow brick homes, officer’s quarters, a theatre and ball fields. The full-scale camp was largely vacated after World War II and given over to a Nike launch site given the code name NY-56.”

“Named for the Greek winged goddess of victory, and developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories, the Nike missile was a surface-to-air missile, guided by radar and a tracking computer. The program started in 1945, spurred by two cataclysmic events: the first successful atomic bomb test by the Soviet Union and their development of a long range bomber capable of 10,000-mile distances. The threat of Soviet aircraft carrying atomic weapons suddenly became very real. The Nike missiles were a solution to prevent another Pearl Harbor from happening.”

More information: http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-rusted-rotting-remains-of-a-new-jersey-missile-base

Location: Google Maps (40.433846, -73.986059)