Interpretive Sign Project
Colchester's Historical Driving Tour of the Towns that make up
Colchester: Downsville, Colchester, Corbett, Shinhopple,
Gregorytown, Horton and Cooks Falls. Please take the tour and
visit all twelve signs to learn more about Colchester's rich
heritage.
Please download our PDF version
of the driving map or you can pick up a
map at the Colchester Town Hall, 72 Tannery Road, Downsville, NY or at the Colchester
Chamber of Commerce Visitors Booth on River Street (Route 30) in
Downsville, New York. Map boxes are also attached to the signs at
the Colchester Visitors Booth, Covered Bridge Park in Downsville, at the Corbett Chimney Park in
Corbett, at the Shinhopple Memorial Center in Shinhopple and on the Cooks Falls sign across from the Cooks Falls Fire
Department on Cooks Falls Road.
This tour can be done as a driving tour of all twelve signs or it can be
broken into a short walking tour of the first four signs in Downsville,
New York. The complete sign
tour is a 50 mile driving tour through Colchester Township and will take
approximately 2 ½ hours to complete.
Please drive and park carefully and be respectful of the private
properties near the signs.
Click on
each sign name to see full sign
view and then click the back to this page to see more signs.
Sign 1.
GPS:
15437 Highway Route 30-Downsville--N42-04.668' W074- 59.367', Elevation-
1110’. Lumber
Industry. This sign is
in front of Paige Cemetery near the Colchester Chamber of Commerce
information booth. Continue
down Route 30 to Bridge Street, turn left on Bridge Street.
Sign 2.
GPS: 34 Bridge Street-Downsville--N42-04.593' W074-59.489, Elevation
-1101'. Rafting.
This sign is located at the Covered Bridge Park.
Continue across the historic Downsville Covered Bridge to the
next sign on the corner of Bridge Street and River Road.
Sing 3.
GPS: 92 Bridge Street, Downsville-- N42-04.449 W074- 59.369, Elevation
-1108’.
Old Downsville Cemetery.
* 1 ½ mile walking tour to this point.
Turns left on River Road and continue to Route 30 by The
Downsville Motel, turn left on Route 30 and continue through Downsville
on Route 206 to Sign 4 on the left just as you are leaving the village.
Sign 4.
GPS: 27830 State
Highway 206, Downsville-- N42 -05.174 W075- 00.060.
Elevation -1206'.
Tub
Mills Falls.
* 3 mile walking tour to this point.
Head back to Downsville on Route 206 and turn right on Route 30
at the traffic light.
Sign 5.
GPS: 12689 Highway 30/Barney Hollow, Downsville-- N42- 03.338
W 075-00.776.
Elevation- 1083'.
Bluestone Quarries.
*5.1 miles.
Continue on Route 30 to Trout Brook Road, turn right and continue
until you reach the Shinhopple Memorial Center on your left.
Sign 6.
GPS: 1462 Trout Brook Road, Downsville-- N42- 03.533 W075-03.862.
Elevation- 1157'.
Shinhopple.
*10.6 miles.
Turn around and travel back down Trout Brook Road to Route 30,
cross Route 30 and continue on River Road to Gregorytown Cemetery on
your right.
Sign 7.
GPS: 2090 River
Road, Downsville-- N42- 01.703
W075-02.360. Elevation -1102'.
Gregorytown
*14.2 miles. Continue down River Road and turn left on
Fuller Hill Road, follow Fuller Hill Road to Horton.
Cross over to Chiloway Road to the Fishing Access Bridge pull
off.
Sign 8.
GPS: 1 Chiloway Road, Horton-- N41 58.325
W075-01.026. Elevation
1138’.
Horton.
*21.2 miles. Travel back
across the Beaver Kill River and turn right on to Cooks Falls Road into
Cooks Falls.
Sign 9.
GPS: 261 Cooks Falls Road, Cooks Falls-- N41-57.366 W 074-
59.410. Elevation -1168'.
Cooks Falls.
*23.2 miles. This sign
is located across from the Cooks Falls Fire Station.
Continue on Cooks Falls Road and enjoy the scenery along the
Beaver Kill River. Follow
Cooks Falls Road until you come to the blinker light in Rockland and
turn left onto County Route 7/Route 206.
Follow this road through Rockland until just before the steel
bridge which enters Colchester (just past the Roscoe Nursing Home).
This sign is on the right just before the bridge that crosses the
Upper Beaver Kill River.
Sign 10.
GPS: 482 Rockland Road/Cat Hollow Road, Colchester-- N 41-57.864
W074-54.445. Elevation -1318 '.
Colchester Fishing.
*31.6
miles. Continue on County Route
7/Route 206 until you come to Jug Tavern Road on your left.
Turn left on to Jug Tavern Road and follow that to Campbell
Mountain Road. Turn right
on Campbell Mountain Road and follow that to the end and turn left on to
River Road. Follow River
Road until you come to the Community Center on your right and then turn
right onto Corbett Road and follow that to the Corbett Chimney Park on
your left.
Sign 11.
GPS: 182
Corbett Road, Corbett--
N42-02.725 W 075-01.544.
Elevation -1152’
Corbett and
Corbett
Community Life (double sign)
*45.7 miles. This double
sign is located at the historic Corbett Acid Factory Chimney Park.
Note the Roebling steel bridge that crosses the East Branch of
the Delaware River. Turn
back on Corbett Road and turn left on River Road and follow that to the
last sign approximately five miles on your right by the Colchester
Highway Department Building driveway.
Sign 12.
GPS: 6272 River
Road, Downsville, Colchester Highway Department-- N42-04.315 W074-
59.634 . Elevation -1116'.
Railroads.
*49.6
miles. Look to the left of the sign,
the original Downsville Depot building can be seen at the end of Depot
Street and is now a private home. Follow River Road back to
Bridge Street turning left and follow Bridge Street over the Downsville
Covered Bridge into Downsville.
This completes the tour.
We
hope you have enjoyed your trip.
Driving time approximately 2 ½ hours.
Please email your feedback on this driving tour and our interpretive
signs to:
info@colchesterhistoricalsociety.org
These historical interpretive signs
were designed and researched by Kay H. Parisi-Hampel, Colchester
Township Historian based on the information and historic photographs in
the Colchester Historical Society collection and with the assistance of
Historical Signage Committee: Anne Hood, Angela Walker, Arthur
Merrill, Betty Vernold and Betty Watson.
This
project was funded by the Colchester Historical Society, the O'Connor
Foundation, Colchester Township, the Downsville Women's Club, Downsville
Lions Club, Travis Kinch Woodworx and many individual donors.
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