Trains haven’t made their way through eastern Schuyler County for more than 50 years, but reminders remain in the stone arch culverts built in the late 1800s to carry the lines.
“The Lehigh Valley Railroad and The Great Stone Arches of Hector” will be presented on Sunday, July 17, at the Valois-Logan-Hector Fire Department hall on Route 414 in Hector. The 1 p.m. program, sponsored by the Schuyler County Historical Society, will be followed by a guided walk to one of the arches.
Charles Fausold of Hector, Schuyler County Historian Gary Emerson and Burdett Village Historian Marty Evans will be the speakers. Fausold will focus on the stone arch culverts in Hector and Valois, and Evans will talk about the arches in Burdett. Emerson will discuss the Lehigh Valley Railroad’s service in Schuyler County.
“Beautiful to look at today, the bridges and massive culverts of cut stone were marvels of engineering, requiring 300 workers,” Fausold says. “The culverts were impressive at such a scale, special Seneca Lake excursion boats were required to transport all of the people, hundreds at a time, who wanted to view the construction in progress.”
After the presentations, Leigh Hazlitt Triner will lead a walk to the arch site in Valois, which is on private property. Participants will drive to near the site and then walk on a moderate incline to the arch.
The program is free, and registration is not required. For more information, call the Historical Society at (607) 535-9741.
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