Home

Welcome to Rensselaerswyck!

Details: Written by: Rensselaerwyck; Category: Uncategorised; Published: 10 July 2026; Hits: 249

Over time, we are going to build up resources relating to the history of Rensselaerwyck itself, and what came after in Rensselaer and Columbia Counties.

Right now, we are developing a list of historical societies and historians in the two counties, and have started discussing sources.

Maps - Sanborn Insurance

Details: Written by: Rensselaerwyck; Category: Resources; Published: 12 August 2026; Hits: 156

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps including parts of Rensselaerswyck

These are mosaics of tiles from the Sanborn maps overlaid on a modern road map.

1885 - Troy

1892 - Including Bath, East Albany, Greenbush

1903 - Troy

1912 - Berlin

Whitford note on Eastern Union Turnpike — First page of Whitford notes on Eastern Union Turnpike

Noble E. Whitford papers - New York State Library Special Collections

Details: Written by: Rensselaerwyck; Category: Resources; Published: 05 August 2026; Hits: 174

Noble Whitford worked as an engineer for the New York State Department of Public Works in the early 1900s. He is best known as the author of the history of the New York State Canal System, two volumes on the Erie Canal and its contemporary canals, and one volume on the construction of the Barge Canal system that replaced the Erie Canal system (yes, I know it's now called the Erie Canal again, but it wasn't for quite a number of decades.) These books are well known to scholars of canal history in New York.

A little while ago, I searched the NYS Library site for Whitford's name, not knowing what I'd fined. I found this box: Noble E. Whitford Papers

The table of contents of the box suggests the state had him working on a history of New York Highways during the turnpike era of the 1800s. I scheduled a visit to the research room that is shared by the Archives and the Library, and finally got a look at the box on Monday. It more or less matched expectations.

It contains hand written notes, which look to be in pencil. there are 152 folders in the box. 6 of the folders contain the manuscript for the unpublished book. there are four folders of indexes/lists, a folder containing a brief preface written by Whitford, one folder of various scraps of research, and 140 folders with notes on individual turnpikes.

Today, researching the turnpikes can be challenging. The records of the turnpike companies did not necessarily survive, and those that have survived are scattered. Legislative acts relating to them can be looked up, but maps of the routes can be tricky. Whitford mentions these challenges because they were in front him in 1905, and he was much closer to the turnpike era than we are today.

I have just started actually going through the material contained in these papers. I've already made one correction to the Wikipedia page on Turnpikes in New York; I expect to make more, and this effort will certainly impact my effort to document the turnpikes in Rensselaer and Columbia counties.