Fall Colors on the Normanskill
Well, it is Fall here in the great northeast but I do not have to go far to capture some of the autumn colors. Although we are not yet at peak, there are some areas with great vistas. The first photo is a view of the Normans Kill, a creek (also called the Normaskill) which flows through some 40 miles of Albany and Schenectady counties. Click on the image to see a great panoramic view.
Trees turning color
The Normans Kill (Kill is Dutch for stream) is a tributary of the Hudson River. I hiked the east end of the Normans Kill conservatory preserve trail down to the creek itself. In the early 1900s, ice harvesting was done here and the remains of an ice house is on the Albany side. Although I was unable to see it from my vantage point, I plan to return next week to the Albany side (which is a hamlet called Normansville) and take more pictures.
The Normans Kill and the Old Bridge
Unfortunately, today there are many invasive species of plants here which have changed the nature of the wildlife habitat. On May 16, 2000, a 400-ft stretch of Delaware Avenue slide down into the Normans Kill due to extreme erosion. This was near the spot I took the photo in the first image.
The image to the right is an old concrete bridge that we used as a shortcut from Delaware Avenue and our neighborhood in Delmar. It is called the “Yellow Brick Bridge” because it was paved with yellow bricks – which I fondly remember. The Yellow Brick Road was constructed in 1805 as part of the Delaware Turnpike. The bridge you see in the photo was built in 1928.