Thursday, February 7, 2019

KING RANCH: Old roads

The house where former King Ranch manager Sam Wilson used to live is being renovated, and the workers found a gold mine of maps depicting the Buck and Doe Run Valley Farm properties in the mid-20th century.
I got the chance to pore over a few of them the other evening and learned a lot. Did you know, for instance, that West Road used to cross Route 82 and continued north to Apple Grove Road? That stretch was known as Sweet Road. 
Hilltop View Road branched off to the left at the top of the hill and connected to McCorkle's Rock Road; you can still see that part of the road as a path through the woods (the words "Road by High Brow" is written on the bottom of the map; was that the road's name?).
McCorkle's Rock Road, now a gravel hiking path through the Laurels Preserve, used to be a township road.
We are still trying to identify a road shown on another map. It's on the east side of Route 82 between Ercildoun and Doe Run, and the property at the corner was owned by Robt. L. Martin. Not many clues to go on!
I added modern road names to this 1949 map, which was found in a Doe Run house that's being renovated.






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