Historical trolley rides to run for a fourth year
Bethlehem Town Historian Susan Leath will once again be taking to the road this year to guide residents and visitors alike on a historical trolley journey, with the first tour taking place Friday, Feb. 5.
This will be the trolley tour’s fourth year running, and Leath’s third year at the microphone directing the tour. As in previous years, Albany Aqua Ducks will provide the transportation. Co-owner Maureen Lundberg said that the Bethlehem tour is much looked forward to.
It’s one of the nicest tours that we do, she said. `It’s such a wonderful town with so much history in it.`
Aqua Ducks does regular tours in the City of Albany, and has also done programs in places like Troy, Watervliet, Cohoes and East Greenbush. Enough people turn out for the Bethlehem tours to make it a recurring program, Lundberg said.
`There’s no place we won’t go if people show an interest,` she said.
The tour will take riders through most of Bethlehem’s hamlets, excluding North and South Bethlehem, which is due to logistical considerations, not for lack of historical value, Leath said.
`It would just take too long. It’s a lot of territory to cover,` she said.
This year’s tour will include more examples of the town’s varied architectural heritage, including elaborate high style Slingerlands homes and Greek revival farmhouses. Leath will also take the opportunity to include some of the research she’s done over the past year in the tour, so even those who have taken the trolley ride before will find plenty of fresh elements.
In a town like Bethlehem, many of the remarkable stories will come from landmarks that residents pass by often, like the Slingerlands house where the Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep movie `Ironweed` was filmed or the longstanding Adams Hotel on Delaware Avenue.
`As people tell me things, I add them onto the tour,` Leath said. `You go by that a million times and you don’t really think about it.`
That includes the set of lions off the road near Henry Hudson Park. They are actually marking the former entrance to a vacation home near the river, Leath said.
The tour should be about 2 hours long, including a stopover at the Bethlehem Historical Association’s Cedar Hill Schoolhouse museum in Selkirk.
The first tour of the year will be held Friday, Feb. 5, which is also national Go Red Day. A portion of the $25 ticket price will be donated to the American Heart Association this day. On the remainder of the tours (Saturday, Feb. 20, Friday, March 5, Saturday, March 20, Friday, April 16 and Friday, April 30) a portion of the price will be donated to the Bethlehem Historical Association.
The addition of more dates is not out of the question if there is enough interest, said Lundberg. Call 462-3825 or visit www.albanyaquaducks.com to make required reservations.
All tours will begin at 10 a.m. at the town parking lot on Kenwood Avenue near the Four Corners in Delmar.
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