Monday, December 29, 2008

Schodack NY Kunicki Pond

I like the mystery of discovering the past by piecing together what is left behind. Such is my status as a "Pot Finder" archeologist. Sometimes it is the geography of an area that also leaves behind clues. Such is the case of an all most lost location , Kunicki Pond. This pond was located on an older town map circa late 50's early 60's. It is located off Graw Rd on the southern part of the town near the Columbia County border. It seems to have disappeared during the intervening yrs. No one has heard of the pond and I have not seen it on more recent maps, can't find it on Google mapping. What happaned to it ?
If one travels this rather isolated road there are hay fields , old barn foundations and a few homes. The road itself is about a mile and a half long and ends with the connecting Dingman Road. The road travels up a hill and at the top of the hill is a house set off near a wooded ridgeline hill . This house was built by a Theodore "Ted" Kunicki where an older home once stood. The remainders of the Kunicki family is where I gain the information that began to solve the puzzle. The land was purchased from a Mr. Payne during the fifties. The original home on that property and the newer one was built over a spring. The excess water was channeled down the hill by a clay pipe. Mr. Payne desired what was called in older days a swimming hole for his kids etc. He had a pond dug out at the bottom of the ridgeline. It was not created for cattle though was used by deer and other animals and have seen reports of a higher deer population in that area. I explored this area and found what I would describe as remnants of a larger pond. I found pieces of clay pipe and old nails with my metal detector. The pond area has over the yrs filled in. Leaves , dirt , much less water has caused only a slight wet land area to survive.
So when the map maker named the pond area he named it after the owners of the property at the time. Oddly Graw Rd was known by locals as Kunicki Rd. How it ended up with the name Graw I do not know. Mrs Lillian Kunicki a former Town of Schodack official still lives on Graw Rd on property further up the road. Ted Kunicki was a successful Housing Developer in the area.

2 comments:

jhabey said...

Hey It was nice to meet you today. (March 29,2015) This is the blog I saw when we firat moved in. Anyway thanks for the brief history of our house!

hudson hawk said...

jhabey.....it was nice to meet you as well. No doubt will cross paths again. Got to get pictures of those foundations for a future blog. Ron Kunicki lived down the road from you and I have known him since 2nd grade. Still owns the property. So untill next time ....BE SEEING YOU.