The Road

#52Ancestors

     The theme for week 18 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge was "Road Trip."  I could write about the scenic drives I used to take on Route 9W along the Hudson River in Ulster County, NY to visit rural cemeteries and take pictures.  I could write about driving from South Carolina down to Florida to visit a cousin I didn't know existed until I started researching my maternal grandmother's mother's family.  My grandmother's father, Samuel Davis, had ancestors who served in the Civil War.  I could write about driving from South Carolina to New York and making an unplanned stop in Pennsylvania when I saw a sign for Gettysburg.  I'd always wanted to visit Gettysburg.  As I was driving through town I saw a sign for the Gettysburg National Military Park and remembered my 3rd great-grandfather, William Davis had three brothers who served in the Civil War and that there was a monument for their regiment.  The Davis brothers were in the 120th NY Infantry Regiment.  I had to find that monument and take a picture.
     I am not writing about any of the road trips I had taken.  I'm writing about an actual road, a scenic road that runs along side a mountain with beautiful views of the Hudson River and Hudson Valley in New York.  Storm King Highway is a 3 mile stretch of road, part of Route 218, that was formed from the side of Storm King Mountain which is on the west bank of the Hudson River.  This narrow, curvy road runs from the town of Highland by West Point Military Academy up to Cornwall-on-Hudson and is sometimes closed due to rock slides and inclement weather. I have driven this road once and will never do it again.
     Construction on Storm King Highway began in 1916 and with my 2nd great-grandfather's help it was completed and open to traffic in 1922.  Stephen Duper was born approx. 1873 in Austria.  He immigrated to the United States in 1887 or 1888 and was naturalized in 1892 in Rosendale, NY which is in Ulster County.  He died 16 July 1931 at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan, NY.  Stephen Duper was a dynamite foreman who worked on Storm King Highway.  My grandmother's cousin told me in a letter that he died of rock dust in his lungs.  His death certificate states that he worked in construction as a rock driller and the cause of death was 'pleurisy-suppurative'.  Rock dust from the rocky road?
                         
                                                               R.I.P.
                                                         Stephen Duper
                                                            1873-1931
 

                                                                         







                             
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