Above was one of the side streets off the main square.
And this was Main Street.
About 5 miles further east on US 4 is the town of Taftsville. I had seen this when I passed through a couple weeks ago, but wanted to stop and take a couple pictures. Below is a 200 year old covered bridge that was almost completely destroyed in the 2011 storms that hit New England:
And beside it is a hydro power plant that was flooded and is still out of commission:
There was an article in the Rutland paper this morning that the State plans to have the bridge rebuilt in 2013. I didn't read anything about the power station, but through the window, I saw one of the generators disassembled.
On down to Windsor, NH and the American Precision Museum. The museum itself is housed in a factory building built in 1846 to manufacture firearms:
The factory produced the first firearms made with interchangeable parts, a real first in American manufacturing. It meant that the firearms didn't have to be individually made by a craftsman, but could be manufactured in bulk using standardized parts. The factory also produced the machines that were used to produce many of the firearms that the Union Army used during the Civil War. The museum will filled with early-to-mid 19th Century machinery and was very interesting. Unfortunately, the batteries in the camera died while I was inside, and I had parked about half a mile up the road...
After Windsor, I headed back west on US 4 to Saratoga Springs, NY and the Saratoga Auto Museum. This museum is housed in the old bottling plant at the Saratoga Springs Spa and is featuring some of the early cars from the early days of NASCAR. It was very interesting. A few that I thought particularly interesting were these:
This is an actual 1939 Ford Coupe that has been modified to carry moonshine and outrun the "Revenuers". Many of the early NASCAR drivers got their start evading the law and carrying illegal (i.e. untaxed) liquor to market. This included Jimmy Johnson, who spent 11 months in prison after he got caught.
This is a 1952 Hudson Hornet driven by Herb Thomas.
A 1960 Ford Thunderbird, back when race cars looked like a real car.
And this is Richard Petty's 1985 Pontiac.
The museum was really worth the stop and very interesting.
Tomorrow it's off to Lake Placid and then to Watertown, NY for the night.
Just so's you'll know, this is my little cabin in the woods for tonight:
Miles today: 200
Total: 5,435