Lost Sounds of Schodack/Castleton

Well there I was in Schodack area looking for the remnants of an old stone wall a long term resident of Maple Hill Road area had told me about. It was early August and hot , around 90 degrees. i searched the woodland areas of Maple Hill Rd and Carney Rd near the high school and Methodist church areas. An area that went through a transition from farm land to suburbs and school buildings. Areas around the Town of Schodack have retained some of their fences from the 17th & 18th centuries. Just travel along the Taconic Parkway to view a number of them. This town has not so to find a remnant of left over stone fencing would be of interest to an amateur archaeologist like me. "I know I lead an exciting life in my semi retirement." Anyway I searched the woods near Maple Hill School and followed it to the Carney Rd area. Backtracked several times. Did find 4 stones near one another but doubt that was the wall I was looking for. Not even would come to a standard of a cairn. I did this for the better part of 2 days. I assure you that there are a fair number of sites that do not pan out and this appeared to be one of those times. I exited a brush wooded area in back of the Methodist church. I set on a bench there and took my meds...I am a type 2 diabetic. I was beat and needed a rest. On their property is their old church bell that was relocated from the old church located on Main Street in Castleton. It was placed in a wishing well kind of structure. Looking at it as I rested I took out my geologist type hammer and gently tapped it. It rang with a deep resonance. I remembered hearing that sound as a kid growing up. It struck me as I thought about it that there are lost sounds that one can never really recover. How did ancient Rome sound in the early morning as it began another day of Empire. How did London sound in the times of Sherlock Holmes. We can sort of recreate it but not completely. So here are a few sounds of what the Town of Schodack sounded like a number of years ago. Some sounds are still there.

Trains: You can still hear the freight trains and Amtrak roll through town. Trains used to stop in Castleton untill the early 1960's. The train grinding to a halt , air breaks applied and it's loud hiss. The 11;20 PM from NYC is especially memorable to me cause you can hear that for miles in the quiet of the night.

Thruway Bridge: We have become used to copious amounts of air conditioning in America. But on a quiet night in summer you could hear trucks and some cars travel over the Castleton Thruway Bridge . When ones windows are open in the dead of night you can hear that distinctive humming.

Drag Racing: You can still hear that distinctive sound of what we used to call burning rubber or laying down rubber in the muscle car era. But to be honest not nearly as loud or as frequent as it once was. It seemed a right of passage to go from a standing start to 0 to 60 leaving that squeal of rapidly spinning tires under stress. As a matter of fact there was a measured quarter mile on Schodack Landing Road above 9j about a half mile from Golden Lane. The distance measured and start and stop lines painted across the road. This started circa 1961 and was still being done in the early 1970's. The line was repainted atleast 4x in that period. Yes I dragged there. Once I dragged a VW Bug in my mothers Opel Kadett. I won. Not alot of speed as you can imagine if you know those cars. It ended when Schodack got it's own police force. Shut down.

Fort Orange Paper Company Whistle: At 2 minutes to noon I believe it blew from the 20's untill close to closing of the mill. The siren on the Castleton Elementary School went off at noon. Busy people and students were alerted to the midday.

Ashby Park: The old park was of wooden construction , even the fence. They had an announcer booth built in back of home plate. They had a single loudspeaker used to announce the game. It was loud. The park was and still is located on top of the Brookview Rd hill. When conditions were still on a warm spring evening you could hear that game for miles. One could be in midtown Castleton 3 or more miles away and hear Steve Ennis or Danny Nolan were up to bat. This was of course intermittent but you could follow part of the game sometimes.

Sonic Booms: There are many people alive today that have never heard a sonic boon from a jet breaking the sound barrier. It was once quit common in the early days of the Cold War. It could rattle you windows. Depending on it's intensity it could shake you especially at night. It was also not uncommon to hear the low rumble of a blimp or a prop passenger liner from Albany Airport.

A School Bus: Les Vanderwall was one of School Bus drivers. On his rounds early in the morning he would beep his horn at certain houses to act as an alarm clock. I found out later he did this for about 23 households in the area. He died a couple of years ago in his 90's. I used to listen for that telltale beep,beep for many years untill my graduation. Considering I heard it for around 12 yrs I missed it.

Milkmen: Early in the morning the tinkle of bottles , the footsteps on the steps Now gone.

Church Bells: One still hears on Sunday or special days the sound of local churches ringing their bells to call the faithful to service. Not nearly as often as we once did. Less churches , the expense and people don't want to be awakened on a Sunday morning. Some churches used to ring The Tailors for the death of a member. I believe 9 for a man 7 for a woman as was the English custom. Sorry about that ladies.

School Bells: Some schools in the area had bells but I remember the loud buzzer telling students when they could enter school if you arrived early. This was stopped sometime in the 60's.

Well , these are some of my memories , ancient as they may now seem. The world seems sometimes so loud that we miss the smaller things as they pass us by. Including the sound of what our lives were as we hustled towards a faster future.