Heritage Waysides

Working in partnership with the Lakes to Locks Passage, the park has a collection of waysides that tell regional stories of key events and players that have had significant historical and/or commercial impacts on our region. This “Virtual Tour’s” project goal is to produce and make available audio files of the stories that were collected and shared with these waysides.

Through financial assistance from the Greenwich Lion’s Club, this project will begin to deliver our goal for a portion of the park’s collection of waysides. During the implementation of this project and having successfully met our goal for this group, the park will seek further funding to continue this project to expand the availability of our regional heritage stories to a widening audience.

Starks Knob

Stark's Knob is believed to have originated in the Connecticut River Valley 400 million years ago as lava "bubbled up" out of a crack in the earth's crust under a shallow sea. The momentum of plate-tectonics "delivered" it to the town of Northumberland just outside of Schuylerville. Being one of the few places in the United States where "pillow basalt" can be easily seen, this volcanic formation is internationally known and often visited by students and professional geologists from throughout North America. 

The site is not only an important scientific resource, but a site of historic significance as well, serving as a major vantage point during the Revolutionary War in the fall of 1777.

The summit vantage point is still breathtaking; visitors to Hudson Crossing Park enjoy scenic views of the Hudson River and the Green Mountains of Vermont.

Hudson Crossing Park “Tour Mates”

The interpretive signs located along the Riverwalk Sensory Trail were made possible through funding from: Hudson River Foundation, Lakes to Locks Passage Scenic Byway, a Federal Highway Administration’s National Scenic Byway Program. There are 16 stories available that were compiled with the help from National Park staff from the Saratoga National Historical Park.

These stories are accessible via QR code while on the trail or virtually through this webpage.

Sixteen scripts were written for these signs. Hudson Crossing Park held a contest to discover "the voices" for the recordings. In addition to local media we employed "Voices for All" to help send our message across the nation. As a result we had 28 entrants from 14 different states.

Voices of the Park: Coralie Davis, Tej Singh, Sam Aldrich, Anthony Cardenas, and Thomas Robinson.

Bridge of Boats

The Dix Bridge formally joins Saratoga and Washington Counties bridging communities and inviting bicyclists, pedestrians, snowmobilers, and skiers to cross the Hudson River. 

The site has great historic significance. If you were to stand in the center of the bridge and look to the north you would see the cuts in the river-bank where, in 1777 British General John Burgoyne's troops came and crossed the Hudson on "Bateaux" 30' long flat-bottomed, flat-sided, double-ended crafts. More than 6000 people traversed this area in the fall of 1777 and the crossing came to be known as Burgoyne's "Bridge of Boats". 

Knox Trail Pocket Park

In what remains one of the most dramatic strategic moves of the Revolutionary War, General Henry Knox dragged an assemblage of cannons overland from Fort Ticonderoga to the heights overlooking the British-occupied city of Boston. Delivery of this artillery to General Washington forced the British evacuation of the city the next spring, resulting in one of the early victories for the American Army. 

The Knox Trail Pocket Park, with convenient parking and just a short walk from Stark's Knob, provides picnic tables and interpretive signs. The Turning Point at Olde Saratoga Rotary Club has adopted this Hudson Crossing Pocket Park, helping to care for flower beds and landscaping. 

The Northumberland Dam

Riding along US Route 4 from Schuylerville towards at Northumberland, a road designated as a National Scenic Byway, you will find the Hudson River’s flow is interrupted by a massive “L” shaped structure. To take a closer look at it, stop at Saratoga Falls Park, located approximately one mile north of the entrance of Hudson Crossing Park (HCP), or hike to the end of HCP’s Eagle Point Trail. From either vantage point, the predominance of the Champlain Barge Canal, completed in 1918, provides a hint for the reason the dam was originally built back in 1822.

Today the dam remains a popular attraction for those visiting Hudson Crossing Park and as well as those enjoying a scenic drive through the Northumberland countryside, although most are unaware of the history, tragedy, ingenuity, and mystery, that it has been a part of.