The Border Town Of Fort Covington, New York - Part 4

I had been driving around the border town of Fort Covington (see also Parts 1, 2 and 3 posted previously) and enjoying it so much that I didn't want to quit. The houses were lovely, the people were nice and the traffic in the business district was bustling:

A historic stone house with a sign reading "Law Office:"

A Presbyterian church:

And another brick house with gingerbread trim, this one with an amazing screened porch and stone pillars out front:

A house with a new metal roof:

Another brick house with gingerbread trim:

I can't explain why, but it seemed important to me to get a photo of the Italian Delight pizza shop on the main street of town, so much so that I had to make a number of passes. The traffic was so busy that I had trouble stopping to take a picture. I finally turned onto a side street and used my zoom lens:

A lovely home with Christmas decorations:

I don't know my house styles, but I'd call this a colonial with Canadian influences:

My last picture of the day was of this brick home, set behind big, old maples. Fort Covington looked to me to be one of the nicest towns in the north country and I sure enjoyed my tour. I hope you did also:

The Border Town Of Fort Covington, New York - Part 3

I continued driving around the small town of Fort Covington, NY on the Canadian border (see also Parts 1 and 2, posted previously). I was impressed by the historic beauty of it and what I imagined to be a high quality of life:

St. Mary's Of The Fort Church, apparently a Roman Catholic church and owner of at least one of the two cemeteries I saw:

A former church, now a senior center:

A traditional colonial house, a popular style in town:

Fort Covington Town Hall, apparently also a former church. The first "o" in Covington, by the way, is pronounced as in job or cob, not as in governor:

I turned onto what I thought was a side street but decided that it must once have been the main street:

Former commercial buildings seemed to be standing empty and/or converted to apartments:

These old main street buildings looked historic:

I'd seen the Fort Covington water tower from a distance, but got a closeup view behind a local residence:

And this was the house behind which I espied the water tower. I was finding this town fascinating and kept driving. I'll post Part 4 tomorrow:

The Border Town Of Fort Covington, New York - Part 2

I was driving around historic Fort Covington, NY (see also Part 1, posted yesterday) and had come to the center of town:

Most houses were in fine shape and definitely looked historic to me:

There were a number of brick homes with this type of gingerbread trim, apparently a popular style in town:

This house reminded me of many seen in Canada - which makes sense, of course, being just over the border:

A full front porch, filled with chairs:

I was surprised to see a gigantic birthday cake, topped with lighted candles, so I pulled to the side of the busy road. I learned that this was the 200th anniversary of Fort Covington:


The sign behind it gave a bit of history, how it was settled in the 1790s as French Mills and renamed in 1817:

Fort Covington was filled with lovely, historic homes:

And most of the homes I saw were large and impressive:

I began to wonder if only rich people lived here, but a quick online look at homes for sale in town showed them as being surprisingly low priced. I was enjoying this driving tour, so I kept going. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

The Border Town Of Fort Covington, New York - Part 1

I'd heard about Fort Covington ever since I moved to the north country, but I hadn't yet been there. I checked Google Maps and found it, only about 25 miles from my house, on the Canadian border and inside an arc of the Little Salmon River. A historic town with a population of only 1600 people, it was originally called French Mills but the name was changed to Fort Covington after the War of 1812:

I turned onto Highway 37, an east-west route which parallels the Canadian border and found myself in a commercial zone with more businesses and more traffic than I would expect from a town of 1600 people. And there was an auto dealer/repair business called Northern New York Auto Sales:

Across the highway was Smith Lumber:

And Smith Auto Repair, probably owned by the same family as Smith Lumber and I wondered if it was related to Northern New York Auto Sales. I suspected it was:

A funeral home:

I began seeing a few houses, many of which were set behind giant, old trees:

Twin Leaf Express. I stopped here on my way out of town and bought gas at the full service station, then went into the deli/convenience store/diner for a cup of coffee where I learned that coffee was free when you bought gas. Business was booming, with so many cars coming and going that the gas station attendant told me to stay there while I went into the store:

Sweet Treats - closed for the season of course, but I'll bet it's a busy place in the summertime:

Adirondack Auto Parts:

St. Mary's Parish Cemetery (there were at least two of them in town):

By then I was in the residential area, about which I'll post more tomorrow:

Franklin County Route 1 - Part 2

I was headed north on Franklin County Route 1, from Bangor to Fort Covington, NY (see also Part 1, posted yesterday). I knew I was in Fort Covington when I passed the school. It was a large campus, much bigger than what you see here:

But there was still farm country to drive through to get to the center of Fort Covington, and this place with old equipment out back sure drew my attention:

 A farm house with barn and silo:

Was this a former one-room school house? It sure looked like it:

A small barn, peeking out from behind a spruce tree:

An old carriage house, now a garage:

I knew I was nearing the town center when I began seeing more residences:

And this giant, old farm with a number of outbuildings:

I came to the end of Franklin County Route 1 and laughed when I saw a Dollar General store. They seem to be everywhere around here. I turned east onto Highway 37 toward the Fort Covington town center, but I'll post about that tomorrow: