In the May 29, 1909
issue of “The Mirror”, a newspaper published in Eagle Bridge, N. Y., an article
appeared that addresses the naming of Eagle Bridge. It was written by Luke Carpenter who was born on 1823 and died in
January of 1910. The newspaper was
owned by Harry S. Viets.
In the year 1827 two
carpenters named Comstock and Sherwood from Johnsonville, took the contract to
build the covered bridge across the Hoosick.
Two Felshaw boys, Joe and William worked with them.
Previous to this
time there had been an open bridge at this place, but it had been broken down
by a drove of Ben Joslin’s cattle rushing upon it. At this time there were only three houses on the Rensselaer
county side of the river, and the same number on the Washington county
side. Caroline Thayer, a school
teacher, lived in a little house at the end of the bridge. She was naturally quite an artist and one
day while the Felshaw boys were alone at work on the bridge she showed them the
picture of an eagle that she had just painted.
They persuaded her to get upon the scaffold which had not been removed
from the Washington county end of the bridge, and paint an eagle up there. When the boss carpenters returned they were
delighted and said, “Now we’ll have one on the other end and call it “Eagle
Bridge”. The scaffold had been removed on that end and as Miss Thayer said
she couldn’t stand on a ladder and paint it, they built another scaffold for
her, and she painted the eagle on the Rensselaer county side. Since then it has been called “Eagle Bridge”
As soon as the
bridge was completed, Jay Wiele gave a barrel of rum for the privilege of driving
the first team across it. After their jollification was over, Viele found out
that he had been beaten, for the night before, Benjamin Sisson got permission
to drive across to tell Leonard Sisson, at White Creek, of my grandfather’s
death.
Published in “The
Mirror”, Eagle Bridge, NY - May 29, 1909 by Luke Carpenter
Caroline Thayer,
soon after this, married Cornelius VanVechten, whose home at the time was located
at Buck’s corner, opposite the location of the present filling station. The Van Vechten family was very prominent
throughout the section. Several
children were born of the union and at the present time there are ten
grandchildren living, many within this section. One son, Henry, became prominent during the Civil War. Among the daughters were Helen, the wife of
the late John H. Pitney; Martha, who was the great-grandmother of the prominent
business men of Hoosick Falls, Forrest
S. White; and Evaline, whose daughter is now the wife of a locally prominent
musician, J. Wells Herrington. This
last paragraph was taken from another article
Philip Leonard
Town of Hoosick Historian
February, 2002