Bridges

Thomas Cole and Frederic Church were two prominent American landscape painters closely associated with the "Hudson River School" of painting, an art movement that flourished nearly 250 years after Hudson first arrived. A brief biography on the Thomas Cole website (see http://www.thomascole.org/learn_biography.htm) says:

During the winter of 1835-1836, Cole stayed in Catskill working on "The Course of Empire." During this period Cole began to express strong views concerning the impact of industrial development and its negative consequences for the wild beauty of the Catskills landscapes that were the source of inspiration for his work. The growth of the railroad by "copper-hearted barbarians" was of particular concern.

Eight years later Frederic Church became a student of Cole and spent two years studying in Cole's studio. Church went on to an independent career that was cut short by rheumatism in the 1870s. When painting landscapes became too difficult, Church turned to producing a living landscape at Olana - his home, and studio in Columbia County. He said, of this activity, "I can make more and better landscapes in this way than by tampering with canvas and paint in the studio." Today the managers of his estate, now a state historic site, fight to preserve the views that are left.

In 1930 a bridge was proposed to connect Catskill in Greene County with Hudson in Columbia County. The bridge as originally proposed would have run through the Thomas Cole estate in Catskill. The state offered Cole's heirs $15,000, the heirs felt the historic property was worth at least $100,000. The state relocated the bridge north of the Cole property. July 2, 1935 the Rip Van Winkle Bridge opened and is now a prominent feature of the westward view from Olana.

The irony. Two men whose work appeals because of the way they depicted the natural landscape left estates now connected by an un-natural landscape.

Some may see bridges as attractive graceful displays of engineering. Others may see them as scars on the land that remind us of our dependence of fossil fuel burning polluters. In either case Google Earth is a useful tool to see the extent of their impact on the Hudson. Start just outside of New York Harbor and zoom in so that your "Eye Altitude" is about 3km. Use your mouse to steer a course east of Staten Island and up the west side of Manhattan. Keep going all the way to Newcomb, New York.

The Verrazano Narrows Bridge, billed as the world's longest single span suspension bridge starts us off. We cross two tunnels and then 34 more road bridges, 4 railroad bridges, 1 conveyor (at a quarry) and one still standing but unused railroad bridge at Thurman Station - ending with New York Route 28N in Newcomb. 41 structures spanning the river.

There are enough man made structures spanning the river to be the subject of a book - and several have been written on the subject. From those books it is evident that there are a number of significant bridges that no longer stand. It is safe to say that we have built more than 50 bridges to cross the Hudson - or 1 every 8 years since Hudson arrived.