THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES 55 



under the narrows to South Brooklyn, and thence by the Bronx- 

 Astoria Bridge to the Bronx. 



The finest bridge of all, however, will be the Henry Hudson 

 Memorial Bridge which is to be erected over the ship canal con- 

 necting Manhattan and The Bronx. This bridge will have a span 

 of 703 feet and will rank as one of the grandest achievements in 

 bridge engineering, as no masonry arch has yet been built with a 

 span of even 300 feet. 



With the possible exception of the Albany Post Road, which 

 extends along the eastern bank of the historic Hudson; the old 

 King's Bridge Road leading thru Fordham; and the Boston 

 Post Road, which branches east at King's Bridge, nearly all of the 

 early highways have disappeared entirely or have been so altered 

 that they are unrecognizable. The old Westchester Path, which 

 was the first roadway cut out in Westchester County by the early 

 pioneers, is but a memory today; and all traces of its former 

 existence have been obliterated. In the early Colonial days it was 

 the only road leading from Manhattan Island to Westchester 

 County. By going along its crooked route, denoted by marked 

 trees thru the dense wilderness, it was possible, if one cared 

 to follow the Indian trails, to reach Greenwich and the Berkshire 

 Hills. 



Many of the families followed the line of the old Westchester 

 Path as is shown by the early deeds which speak of the old West- 

 chester Path as bounding their property on one side or the other. 



It was also over this path that the Colonial Legislature made 

 its flight to White Plains in 1776, from the scenes of its deliberation 

 in New York City, and this was the road chosen by Harvey Birch, 

 Fenimore Cooper's Spy, in his secret journeys for the Commander- 

 in-Chief of the Continental army. 



