TRANSPORTATION

Weedsport's strongest bid to fame has been in the area of transportation. It appears that the site as always been in the right place at the right time. From the day of the Indian Trail to the building of the New York State Thruway, every major mode of transportation has passed thru Weedsport and the evolution of the community has been a reflection of the evolution of transportation.

Transportation is an interesting phenomenon. It datesfrom mankind's earlliest beginning and appears to be an almost instinctive trait. Involved are pathways and meams of locomotion.

The continuous change that has taken place in transportation can be attributed to four elements-speed, comfort, economy and "flexibility of destination." Speed gets you where you're going faster; automobiles are more comfortable than wagons and they also get you much closer to your destination than the canal boat or railroad.

Weedsport was not on the route of the importanat Iroquois trails whch passed thru Cayuga County. "The Great Central Trail of the Iroquois" followed generally the course of State Route 5 passing thru the major Cayuga Indian Villages of Wasco which was located on the site of the State Prision in Auburn. To the north the "Ontario Trail" extended from Oswego to Lewiston following "The Ridge". But Weedsport did have its own east-west trail which paralled the Seneca River. Lakes and streams played an extremly vital role in the Indian economy. They provided a water pathway and a source of food. In the Brutus area the Seneca River flood plain and its resultant swamps made foot travel very difficult. So, the Indians located their trails on solid soil, circumventing swamps and hills thus providing themselves with a multi-season thoroughfare. This explains the origin of the Cottle Road-Hamilton Road highway across the town. Weedsport was also on the course of another trail, probably more important that the East-West path. This was a north south path which led from the present Ithaca area northward thru Wasco to Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario.

The experience of the Oriquois in route location was an invaluable asset to the whites in selecting courses for their wagon roads. Thus the Brutus Road-Cottle Road route from Jordan led into Macedonia and there intersected with the North-South Road which we call State Route 34. It apparently took the whites a little time to learn that surveyed lot lines are not always the best courses for wagon roads. They soon found that hauling over the drumlin west of Macedonia was impractical and changed the route northward to Hamilton Street. The curent generation would find it difficult to understand how crooked these early roads were. Bridges were not common for some time after the whites settled. They forded the small streams and had to avoid hills and swamps. So, the early roads were somewhat snake-like with right-angle turns that wouldn't be acceptable to the modern motorist. The town of Brutus has a surveyors book showing roads laid out between 1803 and 1810. Probably the most used road before 182,5 was the highway from Macedonia to Brutus (now Sennett). It followed the course of Downs Road nearly to present Weedsport-Sennett Road then swung south crossing Tanner Road and running 'cross lots and entering Brutus a short distance west of the four corners. In 1803 the Town of Brutus ordered the survey of a road "A continuation of a road beginning at the end of the road north of Macedonia settlement - as near as the ground will permit to the Seneca River at the mouth of Bread Creek." This road was connected to the Cato Road by means of a ferry operated by Ezra Foileft, a progenitor of a number of Weedsport citizens, including Freda Follett Wheeler. Mr. Follett was a man of convictions and when James Young approached the ferry from the north he was advised that he couldn't cross into Brutus, "There are already too many poor men in Macedonia." Mr. Young had just purchased a farm in Lot 66 just east of the village but he had to walk back to Jordan to get to it.

One story has it that the Follett Ferry was hand operated. A rope was stretched across the river and the ferry propelled by a hand over hand movement on the rope.

Ball Road in pre-canal days joined Oakland Road on the north and proceeded down to the Seneca, there crossing into Cato over a wooden bridge of which little is known. The bridge was probably a casualty to either ice or flood. In 1815 the Montezmma Turnpike and Bridge Company was incorporated and a year later built a bridge across the Seneca river at Montezunaa. The Charter authorized the company to construct a road across the Cayuga (Montezuma) marshes to Palmyra. An act of the State Legislature passed April 5, 1819 allowed the company to make a turnpike road "from the said village of Montezuma extending eastwardly until it intersects the Northern Seneca Turnpike road, at or near the west line of the town of Camillus." The new road intersected the Seneca Turnpike Highway near Crossman's Corners, followed a westerly course along present-day SLate Route 31B, along Brutus Street in Weedsport where it crossed the Canal and proceeded on west thru Buckville to Montezuma. The exact termination date of the Turnpike in the Town of Brutus is not known at the time but the company appears to have over-extended, or perhaps the age of turnpikes was approaching its end - and in 1855 the right-of-way was re-surveyed and conveyed to the town of Brutus. Turnpikes were toll roads built and operated by private companies. They were authorized in the early history of the State because the state could not afford to build roads in the rapidly expanding west. As good local roads were bit, traffic used them rather than pay tolls.

Another highway of which little is known was the Chenango State Road. This highway originated in Chenango County and extended westerly to Auburn. Traditionally the road branched off east of Auburn coming into Brutus from whence it continued north to Weed's Basin. From there it headed for Meridian, probably by way of Bonta Bridge Road. A ferry near the site of Bonte's Bonta Bridge carried traffic across the Seneca. Certainly the new road was built very early and being straight and higher, it took considerable traffic off theold road a few rods to the west. The only documented information which would indicate that the Chenango State Road did come into Weedsport appears in a deed dated 1882. The deed conveys property to be used as the site of an expanded mill pond east of the village hall. The west line of the parcel bounds on the State road.

Weedsport held an important place in the history of one of the most interesting and short lived stops in highway development - the Plank Road.

The first Plank Road in the State was built north of Syracuse in 1846. Two years later, June 7, 1848, the Auburn-Cato Plank Road Company began collecting tolls. It had the distinction of being the first hard-surfaced highway in the area. Plank Roads were built by laying wood stringers paralled with the road direction then laying down cross-pieces of plank at right angles to the stringers. These provided the road surface. Ideally the cross pieces were four inches by four inches because wider boards would have a tendency to cuff when exposed to moisture below and sun above. The planked surface covered only half of the roadway and traffic headed for market had the right of way. Out bound vehicles traveled on the dirt side. Understandably, not all drivers aggeed with, nor conformed to this philosophy and arragnments were said to be fairly common. The system proved to be very expensive to maintain because the wood rotted so rapidly. Tolls were not adequate and numerous lawsuits resulted from accidents caused by poor road conditions. The road remained in existence until March 1877 when the accounts were closed out. February of 1876 appeared to be the last month of toll collections which were then averaging about $125 per month - down from over $400 per month in 1849. In the Brutus area, tolls were collected in two places - One north of Weedsport (the toll booth was demolished to make way for the Thruway Interchange) and the other where High Bridge Road joins Route 34 in front of the Richard K. Daly farmstead.

Peter Douglas, a man of outstanding christian virtue lived on the site of the brick house north of Daly's. He apparently owned the Daly place too and his compassion for his neighbors was greater than that for the Auburn-Cato Plank Road Company. Because, at certain seasons of the year he would take down a couple of sections of fence and allowed his neighbors to drive on his property and enter the plank road north of the toll booth. This practice was severely frowned on by the road companies which frequently exerted legal pressure to eliminate their neighbor's generosity. The procedure was followed on a larger scale along the Turnpike and the usually illegal non-toll roadways came to be known as Shun-Pikes,

Streets and highways improved gradually. Weedsport's Seneca Street was paved with brick in 1916. More and more of the most traveled highways came under jurisdiction of the State and County. By 1957, Brutus Supervisor Bert L. O'Hara was "pushing for an Ithaca, Oswego Highway." Results came rather slowly but by 1970 Route 34 was completed between Waverly and Route 104 south of Hannibal.

Work beqan on the New York State Thruway as early as 1949. Despite improvements in construction technology, the project rivaled the Erie Canal in problems to be overcome and impact on communities it touched. Weedsport was fortunate (most believe) in having been selected as a point for an interchange, and Interchanqe 40 was dedicated by Gov. Thomas E. Dewey on June 24, 1954 with appropriate ceremonies. Local participants included members of the town and village boards, the school band and others. Weedsport Assemblyman Charles A. Cusick introduced the Governor. State Senator George R. Metcalf of Auburn spoke briefly.

While the Thruway has increased local traffic problems, 15,000 vehicles pass thru the intersection of Routes 32 and 34 at the north edge of the village, it has provided work for a good number of local people and has brouqht additional business to the area. The biq Agway Egg Plant on Erie Drive settled here mainly because of the Thruway. Another interesting development has been the larqe number of people who have settled in the Brutus-Weedsport community. They can easily commute to Syracuse, Seneca Falls and other points along the Thruway and still enjoy the advantage of rural or village living.