The Newburgh and Cochecton Turnpike was a

turnpike road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...

in southern

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in the United States. It ran from Newburgh on the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

west to

Cochecton Cochecton () is a town located in west-central Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was 1,372 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from the lenape word "cushetunk" meaning "place of red stone hills". The Town of Cochecton ...

on the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

, where travelers could continue west through

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

on the Cochecton and Great Bend Turnpike toward

Binghamton Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

. The road operated as a

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...

from 1810 to 1872. It is now mostly maintained by the state, carrying New York State Route 17K (NY 17K) from Newburgh to Bloomingburg and NY 17B from

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary plantation of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 26. Located just outside Charlottesville, V ...

to Fosterdale. Between Bloomingburg and Monticello, the turnpike has been bypassed by the

Quickway New York State Route 17 (NY 17) is a major state highway that extends for through the Southern Tier and Downstate New York, Downstate regions of New York (state), New York in the United States. It begins at the New York–Pennsylvania ...

( NY 17), and is now maintained by Sullivan County; similarly, the route west of Fosterdale to Cochecton is County Route 114 (CR 114). Across the Delaware River, Pennsylvania Route 371 (PA 371) leads west from the

Cochecton–Damascus Bridge The Cochecton–Damascus Bridge, sometimes called the Cochecton Dam Road Bridge, crosses the Delaware River in the United States between the unincorporated hamlet of Cochecton, in Sullivan County, New York, and Damascus Township, in Wayne County, ...

Route description

The Newburgh and Cochecton Turnpike began on the eastern bank of the

in the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

Cochecton, New York Cochecton () is a town located in west-central Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was 1,372 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from the lenape word "cushetunk" meaning "place of red stone hills". The Town of Cochecton ...

, where travelers could continue west through

on the Cochecton and Great Bend Turnpike toward

. This turnpike became the basis for modern PA 371. From Cochecton, the turnpike headed generally southeastward to the city of Newburgh on the

by way of

and

Wurtsboro Wurtsboro is a village located on U.S. Route 209 in the town of Mamakating in Sullivan County, New York, United States, near its junction with New York State Route 17 (which is being upgraded to interstate standards and will be renumbered as ...

. The old turnpike path roughly corresponds to what is now CR 114 from Cochecton to Fosterdale, NY 17B between Fosterdale and Monticello, CR 173, CR 172, and CR 171 from Monticello to Bloomingburg, and NY 17K between Bloomingburg and Newburgh. The

( NY 17) closely parallels the old turnpike alignment between Monticello and Bloomingburg.

History

On March 20, 1801, the Newburgh and Cochecton Turnpike Company was established, tasked with building a road from the

to the then- village of Newburgh. The company's initial funds came from the village of Newburgh and area residents, who allocated $126,000 to the new company. These funds were used to construct the Newburgh and Cochecton Turnpike in 1810. The construction of the

caused the area surrounding the highway to quickly grow in size. At its west end, the influx of workers led to the creation of Sullivan County in 1809. To the east, the traffic generated by this and other turnpikes sparked a similar period of growth and prosperity in the village of Newburgh. The village became a city in 1865. The turnpike served as the area's main transport route until 1871, when it was replaced in purpose by the Middletown and Crawford Railroad. Ownership and maintenance of the highway was turned over to the towns it passed through in 1872, effectively dissolving the toll road. In the early 20th century, the state of

took over maintenance of the old turnpike from Fosterdale to Newburgh, repurposing the highway as a toll-free state road. Two sections of the highway became part of

state route A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

s when the modern New York state route system was established in 1924, and the entire Fosterdale–Newburgh highway was assigned a number as part of the 1930 state highway renumbering. The piece from

to Bloomingburg was bypassed by the

in the mid-to-late 1950s; however, the rest of the Fosterdale–Newburgh segment is still state-maintained as parts of NY 17B and NY 17K.

References

{{reflist, 2 Turnpikes in New York (state) History of Orange County, New York

Route description

History

See also

References