1947 Map of Stephentown Center

About this map

Rensselaer Co Capital District Forest and Game Refuge dominates the northern uplands of this mid-century survey, a landscape defined by narrow valley settlements and high-elevation lookout points like the Seven Hill Fire Tower. The eastern edge of the quadrangle is marked by the path of the Rutland railroad, which follows the corridor near Stephentown. The hydrology of the region is notably complex, with numerous small impoundments such as Stone Bridge Pond and Stump Pond feeding into larger drainage systems like Kinderhook Creek and the Black River. For genealogists and local historians, the map provides precise locations for several rural burial grounds, including Hillside Cem near West Stephentown and the Presbyterian Hill Cem to the south. These cemeteries, alongside scattered hamlets like Dunham Hollow and Garfield, illustrate the early 20th-century settlement pattern before post-war suburbanization altered the Rensselaer County countryside.