Page:The Milestones and the Old Post Road.djvu/9

Milestones progress made, and, as taverns and road houses were always convenient, there was ever a place for rest and refreshment. Among the old road houses may be mentioned the Bull's Head Tavern, near the first milestone, where the friends of the traveler who had accompanied him thus far, drank to his health and safety on his journey to the wilderness beyond.

At the second milestone, where Cooper Union now stands, was the Bowery Village Church. Cato's Road House at Fifty-second Street was a noted hostelry; at Seventy-second Street was another Kissing Bridge.

That part of the road near McGown's Pass has a special interest from its connection with the march of the British before the Battle of Harlem Heights and the presence of Forts Clinton and Fish. At the bridge across Spuyten Duyvil Creek, also a Kissing Bridge, there was a celebrated tavern well described by Madame Knight where sleighing parties came out from town for their frolics. Thence the traveler on either of the diverging Post Roads had more time for the enjoyment of the scenery, as the evidences of civilization faded away and the wilderness opened before him broken only occasionally by village or hamlet.

According to the old maps there was, starting from the City Hall in Wall Street, a stone for every mile in what is now Manhattan and the Bronx. With the erection of the present City Hall (1803-12) these milestones were replaced to bring them in conformity with the new starting point. This accounts for the apparent discrepancies in their names. Some of the milestones have disappeared, while others have had a varied experience. Some of the stones have been used by bill posters; one was rescued from a police station and now stands in good surroundings not at all embarrassed by the falsehood showing on its face; another was removed from a tottering position in a neglected section of the road and now occupies a place safe from destruction; one stone that stood in the way of public improvement was apparently improved off the earth; another reposes in a back yard uptown, while still another has its resting place in a cellar.

 Bowery, opposite Rivington Street. Third Avenue, between Sixteenth and Seventeenth Streets. Third Avenue and Fifty-seventh Street. Third Avenue and Seventy-seventh Street. Third Avenue and One Hundred and Seventeenth Street. 