A recent story (the death and burial of Natasha Richardson) was datelined "Lithgow, New York." But the thing is, I'm from that area, and I've never heard of "Lithgow, New York." Neither had my parents, who lived an even longer time in the area. It wasn't on any map we had handy, either.
A little online research turned up a location (on US 44 about halfway between Milbrook and Amenia) and even a picture of a sign.
Near as I can tell, it's a place where some roads cross. I don't know if the area became more developed after I left the area or whether this was always called this (online research didn't help me here), but there are a lot of hole-in-the-wall places that have some kind of existence, I suppose.
Posted by snapper (Member # 7299) on :
It is either an railroad or stage coach stop. There are a few little outpost like that in Michigan. Where I live, there is a non-descript place called Drayton Plains. Nothing about it resembles a plain. The township of Waterford has completely swallowed it and only the post office has kept the name.
It used to be that railroads would place stops along the line and give each stop a name. I bet that's how Lithgow got it's name.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
There's a town-on-the-maps on the other side of Milbrook from this Lithgow place, called Billings. In this case, I know for sure it's just a place where two roads cross...a teacher of mine lived just down the road on a site that had an incredible amount of back-and-beyond to it. But Billings itself didn't amount to much in those days...