1813-1892 TOSL Record of Roads

Archive

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Town of Sand Lake, New York

1813-1892 TOSL Record of Roads: One-hundred-and-thirty-six (136) page downloadable PDF.
1813-1892 TOSL Record of Roads

One-hundred-and-thirty-six (136) page downloadable PDF.

Name/Title

1813-1892 TOSL Record of Roads

Entry/Object ID

2021.2.57

Scope and Content

One-hundred-and-thirty-six (136) page PDF chronicling the division of road districts and appointment of an Overseer of the Road for each district as needed to establish and maintain the roads within the Town of Sand Lake, NY. Overseers of the Road were primarily responsible for organizing the voluntary (meaning unpaid), but legally required (meaning involuntary), labor required to maintain the segments of roads within their district. New York inherited this complex system of road maintenance from its English roots. Able-bodied males within each district were required to volunteer a minimum number of days per year to the maintenance of district roads or pay a minimum amount per day in lieu of their participation. Overseers could also petition an annual or special meeting of Town highway commissioners for the additional funds or assistance needed to complete special projects or emergency repairs within their district. Per the weblinks portion of this entry, the unwieldy nature of the Overseers system in the face of ever-increasing transportation requirements spurred to development of privately owned turnpikes and toll roads and eventually town and county highway departments and State and Federal departments of transportation. For example, the Averill family was deeply involved in the development of a plank road-based toll road between Sand Lake and Albany. Regardless, the Overseer system continued well into the first portion of the 20th century. The PDF is downloadable while fully logged into the system. Refer to the example page for a preview of its content. A much higher resolution PDF is stored off-line and available upon request under the file name: 1813-1892_TOSL_Record_of_Roads_Hi_Res.pdf The original ledger is stored in a locked fireproof safe at Town Hall. This appears to be the 4th through 7th of the 15 ledgers described in the, "Summary of 15 Town Ledgers," entry in this section.

Cataloged By

Michael Frederick Perry

Acquisition

Accession

2021.2

Acquisition Method

Found

Dimensions

Height

13 in

Width

8 in

Depth

1-1/2 in

Web Links and URLs

Huntington, NY, highway and turnpike history web page, Virginia DOT highway history web page

Created By

curator@slhstrustees.org

Create Date

March 24, 2022

Updated By

curator@slhstrustees.org

Update Date

March 25, 2022