In a shocking discovery, the Corduroy Road has been severely damaged, presumably by archaeologists for The Related Companies.
TLT visited the Corduroy Road site with Federal Trail Historian, Robert Selig. Mr. Selig is the Lead Historian for the Washington-Rochambeau Trail (W3R).
Mr. Selig confirms that the Corduroy Road section could not have been used for a bridle path in the 1800s, because it is not suitable for horse hooves. The Corduroy Road is suitable for oxen hooves, which was typical for carrying iron ore and military supplies to Newburgh, West Point, and Morristown from 1775-1783.
Carol Griggs from the Cornell University Tree Ring Department sent an apology letter on July 22nd, 2010, regarding a report that was submitted by the Related Companies to the Town of Tuxedo in a July Draft FSEIS. In the letter she retracts her statement that the logs are from 2004–an egregious attempt by the Related Companies to mis-lead the public on the Revolutionary War history of the Corduroy Road.
It is equally egregious that the Tuxedo Town Board has ignored the attempt to mis-lead the public, and not asked the The Related Companies one question about the withdrawn submission in the Draft FSEIS.
Compare the “After Damage” video with “Before Damage” pictures below
May 2010
Video from a site visit to the Corduroy Road with Archaeologists and Well Drilling Foreman from The Related Companies.
The Well Drilling Foreman confirms that they did not build the Corduroy Road in question. The Well Drilling Foreman also confirms that the road they built in 2004 washed away.
There is additional discussion of Dendrochronology, and revelation that the Archaeologists had traveled this road many times before, yet somehow never documented an easily identifiable Corduroy Road.
Someone from The Related Companies later pressured the Cornell Tree Ring Department to unknowingly issue a misleading report concerning the Corduroy Road. The Cornell Tree Ring Department has issued an apology and a retraction from their first report that was submitted by The Related Companies in a Draft Final FSEIS submitted to the Town of Tuxedo.
————————————————————————————————————————— Letter from W3R Federal Trail Historian, Dr. Robert Selig, to the New York State Historic Preservation Office:
Dear Mr. Mackey,
Mr Tomas Wilson of the Tuxedo Land Trust forwarded to me a copy of your letter of 26 July 2010 to Mr. Nils Gerling of the Town of Tuxedo Town Planning Board with a request for comment on that section of your letter containing your assessment of the corduroy road segment in the proposed Tuxedo Reserve Project.
Specifically Mr. Wilson asked me to comment on your statement that the segment “is not part of the 18th-century Continental Road system.” You base your assessment on “construction techniques employed and log diameter.” It may well be that the logs currently in situ are of 19th-century origin, but that does not, in my opinion, invalidate the strong likely-hood that the roadbed itself where these logs are found today is of 18th-century origin. The Continental Road system was a network of roads that expanded considerably during the American War of Independence from its pre-war extend. This expansion was driven by the need to have a set of alternate routes to keep supplies for Washington’s army in New Jersey from falling into British hands. These roads, many of which were surveyed by Robert Erskine and his successor Simeon DeWitt of Ringwood, were known under various names such as “The Secret Road” or “Cannonball Road”. Their existence and use are well known but can, and should, be further documented by additional research in lesser-used sources such as pension applications. It is particularly in those records that I have lately found information not only on the use of these roads, but also on their location(s): e.g., waggoners occasionally mention even the names of farmers where they stopped on their way to and from New Jersey.
If, as I tend to believe, the existing road section in question is part of the Continental Road, this would create a side-trail of the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail (W3R-NHT) signed into law by President Obama in March 2009. Based upon my research on the roads taken by the Franco-American armies on their way to and from Yorktown in 1781 and 1782 as project historian for the W3R-NHT and as the historian responsible for the 2001 “W3R in New York” survey, I would therefore strongly recommend that some in-depth research be conducted in the Erskine-DeWitt maps, the Timothy Pickering Papers, the McDonald Papers, the Pension Application files and similar resources to accurately identify and delineate the Revolutionary War Continental Road network before this road segment is written off as originating in the 19th century.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.
August 16th, 2010
In a shocking discovery, the Corduroy Road has been severely damaged, presumably by archaeologists for The Related Companies.
TLT visited the Corduroy Road site with Federal Trail Historian, Robert Selig. Mr. Selig is the Lead Historian for the Washington-Rochambeau Trail (W3R).
Mr. Selig confirms that the Corduroy Road section could not have been used for a bridle path in the 1800s, because it is not suitable for horse hooves. The Corduroy Road is suitable for oxen hooves, which was typical for carrying iron ore and military supplies to Newburgh, West Point, and Morristown from 1775-1783.
Carol Griggs from the Cornell University Tree Ring Department sent an apology letter on July 22nd, 2010, regarding a report that was submitted by the Related Companies to the Town of Tuxedo in a July Draft FSEIS. In the letter she retracts her statement that the logs are from 2004–an egregious attempt by the Related Companies to mis-lead the public on the Revolutionary War history of the Corduroy Road.
It is equally egregious that the Tuxedo Town Board has ignored the attempt to mis-lead the public, and not asked the The Related Companies one question about the withdrawn submission in the Draft FSEIS.
May 2010
Video from a site visit to the Corduroy Road with Archaeologists and Well Drilling Foreman from The Related Companies.
—————————————————————————————————————————
Letter from W3R Federal Trail Historian, Dr. Robert Selig, to the New York State Historic Preservation Office:
Dear Mr. Mackey,
Mr Tomas Wilson of the Tuxedo Land Trust forwarded to me a copy of your letter of 26 July 2010 to Mr. Nils Gerling of the Town of Tuxedo Town Planning Board with a request for comment on that section of your letter containing your assessment of the corduroy road segment in the proposed Tuxedo Reserve Project.
Specifically Mr. Wilson asked me to comment on your statement that the segment “is not part of the 18th-century Continental Road system.” You base your assessment on “construction techniques employed and log diameter.” It may well be that the logs currently in situ are of 19th-century origin, but that does not, in my opinion, invalidate the strong likely-hood that the roadbed itself where these logs are found today is of 18th-century origin. The Continental Road system was a network of roads that expanded considerably during the American War of Independence from its pre-war extend. This expansion was driven by the need to have a set of alternate routes to keep supplies for Washington’s army in New Jersey from falling into British hands. These roads, many of which were surveyed by Robert Erskine and his successor Simeon DeWitt of Ringwood, were known under various names such as “The Secret Road” or “Cannonball Road”. Their existence and use are well known but can, and should, be further documented by additional research in lesser-used sources such as pension applications. It is particularly in those records that I have lately found information not only on the use of these roads, but also on their location(s): e.g., waggoners occasionally mention even the names of farmers where they stopped on their way to and from New Jersey.
If, as I tend to believe, the existing road section in question is part of the Continental Road, this would create a side-trail of the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail (W3R-NHT) signed into law by President Obama in March 2009. Based upon my research on the roads taken by the Franco-American armies on their way to and from Yorktown in 1781 and 1782 as project historian for the W3R-NHT and as the historian responsible for the 2001 “W3R in New York” survey, I would therefore strongly recommend that some in-depth research be conducted in the Erskine-DeWitt maps, the Timothy Pickering Papers, the McDonald Papers, the Pension Application files and similar resources to accurately identify and delineate the Revolutionary War Continental Road network before this road segment is written off as originating in the 19th century.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.
Best regards,
Robert A Selig, PhD