The western terminus of NY 301 is at a four-way junction with NY 9D in Cold Spring. At the intersection, Morris Avenue enters from the north, Chestnut Street comes in from the south, and Main Street enters from the west and leaves to the east on NY 301. The route climbs a hill into the Philipstown village of Nelsonville, where it remains Main Street until transitioning into Cold Spring Carmel Road and passing near the southeast border of the Hudson Highlands State Park. It crosses US 9, locally Albany Post Road, at Mekeel Corners and continues northeast into the woods of the Clarence Fahnestock State Park.^[3]

The highway crosses over Clove Creek a few times and turns slightly towards the southeast; however, it soon resumes a northeasterly course as the Cold Spring Turnpike. Continuing through the state park, NY 301 skirts the southern bank of Lake Canopus before crossing the Taconic State Parkway in Putnam Valley. Roughly 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the northeast at Mead Corners, NY 301 bears southeast toward Carmel. The road passes north of Sagamore Lake to hug the western shore of Boyds Corner Reservoir—part of the Croton Watershed of the New York City water supply system. Shortly thereafter, NY 301 follows the inside of the western fork of the West Branch Reservoir (also NYC watershed) past the former colonial settlement of Coles Mills just south of the Nimham Mountain State Forest, before bisecting the body of water via a causeway.^[3]

NY 301 ends at NY 52 (Gleneida Avenue) to the north of Lake Gleneida in the county seat of Carmel. Lake Gleneida is a controlled lake, created when an original pond was dammed in 1870, once more part of the Croton Watershed.^[4] At the far end of the junction is the Putnam County Courthouse,^[3] a National Register of Historic Places-listed structure that was first constructed in 1814.^[5] The eastern terminus of NY 301 is just 0.25 miles (0.40 km) north of NY 52's eastern terminus at US 6.^[3]

Philipstown Turnpike edit

The portion of modern-day NY 301 west of Meads Corners was originally part of the Philipstown Turnpike. Initially, the county's proximity to the Hudson River supplied cheap means of transporting goods to Albany and New York City, though in the winter months, the river froze over.^[6] To resolve the issue, in 1815, the Philipstown Turnpike Company was organized to improve upon a toll road from Cold Spring to the Connecticut border.^[7] On April 15, 1815, "an act to incorporate the Philipstown turnpike company in the county of Putnam" was passed.^[8] East of the Connecticut border, the turnpike continued as the New Milford and Sherman Turnpike.^[9]

On the turnpike, wagons transported manufactures inland, and carried produce from the eastern part of the county.^[6] Before the advent of the railroad, the road was a business center for much of the county.^[10] One of the intentions of the turnpike was to "greatly promote the public good, as well contribute to their individual interest". However, the turnpike was eventually abandoned, because the tolls received were not sufficient to defray the expense of maintaining the road and associated bridges.^[9] The tolls were also inadequate for investors in the Philipstown Turnpike Company to make a profit.^[6]

Designation and recent history edit

NY 301 was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York to the portion of its modern alignment west of US 9. At the same time, the section of what is now NY 301 from County Route 21 (CR 21) in Kent Cliffs to NY 52 in Carmel was designated as part of NY 130, which continued southwest from Kent Cliffs to Peekskill via CR 21, Oregon Road, and Division Street.^[2] By 1932, NY 301 was extended eastward to NY 130 in Kent Cliffs by way of its modern alignment.^[11] NY 130 was replaced by an extended NY 301 from Kent Cliffs to Carmel c. 1934^[12][13] and eliminated entirely c. 1938.^[14][15]

The section of NY 301 from the vicinity of Kittridge Drive, a local street southeast of Kent Cliffs, to NY 52 was initially county-maintained as CR 47.^[16] On April 1, 1980, ownership and maintenance of this section of the route was transferred to the state of New York as part of a highway maintenance swap between the two levels of government.^[17] The concurrent CR 47 designation was subsequently eliminated; however, the number was later reused for a 0.2-mile (0.3 km) former alignment of NY 301 in Kent Cliffs.^[18]

On August 20, 2002, the portion of NY 301 between NY 9D and US 9 was designated as the "Sergeant Albert Ireland Memorial Highway".^[19] The ceremonial designation honors Albert L. Ireland, a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant from Cold Spring who was awarded many citations, including nine Purple Hearts, for his service during World War II and the Korean War.^[20][21] In June 2012, the entire roadway was designated as the Hudson River Turnpike by Putnam County with the intent of reminding "drivers of the picturesque landscape and historic areas along its path".^[22] United States Geological Survey maps (cf. the Oscawana Lake Quadrangle) designate the entire road as the "Cold Spring-Carmel Pike".

The entire route is in Putnam County.

• List of county routes in Putnam County, New York

• New York State Route 301 at Alps' Roads • New York Routes