County Route 47, Town Of Stockholm And Norfolk - Part 1

I often traveled County Route 47 at night while driving to and from community chorus rehearsals, so one day I decided to drive it during the day and see what I'd been missing. The road had lots of spectacular old barns, though most of them are now sitting idle:

Many of the smaller barns, however, were being used for horses:

These outbuilding held farm equipment:

A modern style barn with piles of round hay bales stored under its canopy. I wish I could keep my hay bales out of the rain:

An attractive setup for horses:

An old barn behind a traditional split rail cedar fence:

An old shed, no longer used. It appeared to me as this was once someone's house, tiny though it is:

A large and elaborate farm house, behind cedar split rail fence:

A big red barn with a couple of horses enjoying the sunshine:

A string of barns, laid out in the New England style. I was just getting started on my driving tour though, and there was still much to see. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

County Route 34, West Potsdam

I was driving to Canton, NY via back roads and found myself on St. Lawrence County Route 34. It was so scenic and had so little traffic that I decided to take pictures along the way:

The farmland was flat, with wide vistas across the woods and hay fields:

Old barns with silos dotted the landscape:

I think this was an old manure spreader:

Blue colored maple sap lines which fed into a collection house. I have read that many small operations use gravity fed lines, but bigger operations often use a vacuum pump to keep the sap flowing. I imagine that was what the shed was for:

A traditional farm house and several outbuildings:

The silo and barns which went with the above farm house:

This wasn't an old barn, but with the windmill, old gas pump, Texaco sign and brilliant red color, it sure caught my eye:

A lovely old farm house with a horse barn:

An old cemetery. With no snow on the ground, I would have enjoyed strolling around in it and reading the gravestones. Alas, I didn't want to lengthen my trip to Canton any more than I already was doing:

All the lawn furniture and grill appeared to be assembled to be protected for the winter. Perhaps they were going to move it into the old barn, just visible behind the house on the right:

I arrived at the intersection of County Routes 34 and 35 and decided to turn there, so I took one last photo of this Christmas colored house before starting a new series of pictures (tomorrow's post):

Old Market Road - Part 3

I was taking a driving photo tour on Old Market Road in the town of Stockholm, NY (see also previous two posts). I was nearing the end of the road when I passed these outbuildings and trucks:

And a fleet of large dump trucks, all bearing the name of an excavating firm:

I continued to pass through snowy woodlands along the road:

I wish I'd gotten a better photo of this place. It seemed to me to have once been a small home, but was now a farm outbuilding. I'd love to know its history:

The sun came out just as I snapped this picture, showing the beauty I found all along Old Market Road:

An old farm house with a wonderful front porch:

A homey, comfortable looking home and garage:

This was probably an old farm house to which many additions had been added over the years:

An old Colonial style farm house behind big maples:

A small, woodsy place, tucked back behind the trees and possibly not noticed by people speeding by on their way to and from work:

At the end of Old Market Road was this abandoned home:

And my last photo of the day was of this brown house and garage, set behind a gnarly old maple:

Old Market Road - Part 2

I was driving on Old Market Road in the town of Stockholm, NY and finding its rural scenery lovely (see also Part 1, posted yesterday):

This road had more of a woodsy than agricultural motif, but I appreciate the beauty of both. This home was a case in point. What a lovely place to live:

This stock trailer and small barn set back behind barbed wire fencing and created an inviting picture. The barn may have held horses, though I didn't see any. What I did notice were the snow caps atop each fence post:

I passed through more snowy woodlands:

Most houses were set back behind trees:

An old, abandoned home and outbuilding. I suspect it might go unnoticed when the leaves are on the trees, but the wintertime highlighted it:

A farm house style home, also set back behind trees:

A large barn with overhead doors, apparently no longer in use:

This house appeared historic, possibly one of the original farm houses on the road:

A large complex of barns:

Another old farm house:

This place looked homey and inviting. But there was yet more to see on Old Market Road, and I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

Joy Road, County Route 83 And County Route 49 - Part 2

I was taking a driving tour of a scenic local road which began in Massena as Joy Road and then became County Route 83, then County Route 49 as it passed through the town of Norfolk into the town of Stockholm. This lovely old brick farm house, with its barn and split rail fence, was one of my favorites:

The Brookdale Wesleyan Church, sitting kind of out in the middle of nowhere:

A very old and very large barn, still in active use:

I wanted to capture this picturesque farm, which sat up on a hill, in one photo:

A smaller barn with a new roof:

A large farm house with an even larger barn:

Another old barn:

A historic farm house with two old barns (well, three if you include the smallest one), still painted the green color which, it seems, most barns around here used to be painted:

A lovely log home:

An old farm house with plastic over the porch windows, a barn and silo:

A beautiful old barn:

A comfortable looking farm house:

This barn, set back in the trees and elevated off the ground, was the last photo I took on this driving tour. It is a route I take often, and stopping to snap photos helps me pay closer attention to the beauty I pass along the way: