2019-10-25: North Cairo NY

North Cairo isn't a formal place name; it's not a census or municipal-level designation, nor will you find it on any maps. There are three state highways which travel through Cairo, Routes 23, 32, and 145. All three run through the north section of the township, and have communities centered around them. Route 23 is home to Acra, Route 32 is home to Woodstock, and despite the presence of a number of businesses and homes, the community around Route 145 is hitherto unnamed. For the sake of convenience, I refer to it here as North Cairo.

Route 145 in North Cairo isn't a particularly pretty road. There are no open fields or steep gradients along its three-mile trip through the town, and therefore no views of the Catskills to the south or the rolling hills to the north. I chose a cloudy day to walk this section of road for this reason; I didn't feel as though the bad lighting conditions made much difference since there wasn't much to see anyway. However, there were a handful of interesting stops, enough to warrant a post, so I'll put them here for the world to see.

In one of the only pretty spots along the road, Acra Point rises here above the Cairo Highway Department building.

Some purple flowers, the last of the year, lined the roadway.

An abandoned resort - one of many along this road - sits at the intersection of Route 145 and Roosevelt Ave.

Down the road from the resort is a hotel-turned-retirement home-turned-house. Its sign still stands, bearing evidence of multiple past uses.

Blackhead and the ridge to its south loom over flat plains near the town's high school. This was one of the only places where I felt better lighting would have been useful.

Rockefeller Lake, an artificial lake along NY-145, is relatively well-known despite its inaccessibility (the lake is privately owed).

The Taylor Cemetery is one of the larger of the many family cemeteries that dot Greene County.

Sign at Route 145's southern terminus, at Route 23 just north of downtown Cairo. A wider shot didn't come out.

Many have attempted to turn this curious structure into a restaurant or banquet hall, but none have yet succeeded.

Acra Point is quite prominent from North Cairo, popping into view wherever a break in the treeline allows.

Like nearby Greenville, the Cairo Highway Department marks signs with a map of the town. This dead-end sign on Harring Drive clearly hasn't been maintained in quite some time.