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Historical Highlights

Toll Gates

Before we had paved roads, stop lights and heavy traffic, we had turnpikes and plank roads. It is hard to imagine that, at one time, a trip to Albany or Troy in a bumpy stage coach took most of a day. Toll Gate Road, located east of West Sand Lake, is one of the few reminders of those days.

The toll charge would depend, for example, on the number of horses pulling your carriage or maybe the number of sheep you were driving to market. That's how the turnpikes were financed. One of the tollgates was at the intersection of Toll Gate Road and Route 43. There was one other toll gate in the Town of Sand Lake. It was located just south of the intersection of Eastern Union Turnpike on Route 66. A milestone still marks its location.

Can you imagine stopping at a tollgate in your own neighborhood on your way to work? Think about it as you drive by these historic sights. C from the Winter 1998 issue of Historical Highlights



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Created 3/25/2000; last revised January 3, 2015 -- asm. © 2002-2024 Sand Lake Historical Society; all rights reserved.