Lincoln Highway road trip: Midtown Manhattan and the eastern start of the Lincoln Highway. In a few days I am going to get in my Audi TT and set out on a two or three week drive tracing the route of the Lincoln Highway, America’s first transcontinental road, as far as Indiana (at which point I am going to turn right toward Michigan to visit a friend in Charlevoix in the northern part of the state). A side trip to Detroit perhaps? We shall see. Except when not possible, it will be on the highway (where it still exists), including city streets formerly part of the highway. No interstates.
The Lincoln Highway predates Route 66 and connected its eastern starting point, at Times Square in New York City, with its western terminus, at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park in San Francisco. (San Franciscans, there is a marker in the park commemorating the western terminus – check it out.) The plan is to do the portions of the highway starting in New York (which means getting myself to the Holland Tunnel – more on that below), New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. Eventually I’d like to continue the journey but at another time. The idea is not to be in too much of a hurry and stop to see a few things along the way and, yes, to do some serious photography as well.
The original route of the Lincoln Highway was from Times Square and then over on 42nd to a ferry across the Hudson to Weehawken, NJ. That ferry service was discontinued after the Holland Tunnel (and later the Lincoln Tunnel) opened. The Lincoln Highway was re-routed to the Holland Tunnel which is where I will start. Anyway, one of the pictures is of the sign at Times Square commemorating the eastern start of the highway, there’s another of the remains of a pier over along the Hudson (perhaps the original pier for the Weehawken ferry?) and finally some shots taken at the new midtown ferry terminal where once again there is ferry service to Weehawken (passengers only – no Model Ts). One can see the Hudson River Palisades in Weehawken in the distance.
The next few days I am going to post some Lincoln Highway shots taken locally ahead of the road trip. Weehawken pix tomorrow. I will probably start the actual trip on Memorial Day. I have a couple of iPods already loaded with road trip music.
This is going to be fun.
