Went searching for little bits of history today! Inspired by interviews with Harrison Scott, I took a drive down the South end of Ridge Route to find parts I haven’t previously seen or paid attention to.
One of the big things I set out for was to find the old portion of the road at the intersection of Templin Highway and Ridge Route. I have driven through this intersection hundreds of times but never noticed anything unusual. If you’re on Ridge Route driving towards Templin Highway, the old road can be found up the hill on the right. It’s pretty well hidden!
There were a few markers up there too! Couldn’t find info on the Dept. of Transportation one, but did find information on the Geological Survey one. If you’d like to look up any Geological Survey markers, they can be found here.
It was interesting to see the rebar sticking out of the ground on the north side even though the road had been bulldozed long before (Image 4). On the South side you can see the chewed through remains of the old road from the modern road (Images 7 & 8).
Further South, there was the location of the Ridge Road House. When I get a little more brave, I’ll look for the foundations, but there is a small curve of the road that’s in pretty good condition. You can see where the new road was straightened in the first photo.
Even further South, there’s another spot where the original alignment of the road can be found. Unfortunately, there’s a big pile of trash blocking the road. Not cool. But you can see it used to be higher up. Looks like it is now use as a powerline access road.
Bonus points! Cool fun fact I learned from watching one of the interviews…. The scrape marks on the curbs are actually from trucks trying to keep a slow speed! The solid rubber tires would scrape at the concrete curbs, seen below.
