Alan Crawford

Some of you may have read a previous article I published on Thomas Machin. He was a patriot, a scoundrel, a counterfeiter, a deserter, and an entrepreneur. He definitely left his mark. You may recall after he deserted the British Army, he became a trusted aide to General George Washington who sent him to the Hudson Valley to secure the river to prevent the British from sailing north.

Machin’s solution was to fabricate a chain of huge metal links and wood to stretch across the river. This would accomplish two decisive tasks. First it would impede ship travel up river and secondly, hold the ships in position while the cannons of the Revolutionary Army to bombard them and sink them.

A little over a month ago, a gentleman who is both a friend and reader contacted me. There had been an automobile accident on Lakeside Road, just north of the Dan Leghorn Fire Department, next to the stream. Not only was there damage to some guard rail, the large, cast iron sign commemorating the location of Machin’s Mint had been toppled and the pole damaged.

Thinking quickly, this concerned member of community and a friend secured the sign and contacted me. I got a warm fuzzy feeling when I learned what they had done and headed over to pick up the sign.

These signs are not light and it required the two of us to load it into my vehicle. When we inspected it, we could see the base where it mounted to a steel post had been fractured and severely damaged, requiring substantial repair before it could be resurrected to its original position.

Our Town government and highway department stepped up and took control. I delivered the sign to the Town Garage for an assessment of what could be done. The skill and professionalism of these people deserve a shout out by all of us!

Not only did they repair the base of the sign, they painted it! And this past week, installed a new post and the repaired sign! Many times we see things being neglected, which is a form of slow demolition, until they are not worth saving. Not in our Town, though!

The sense of community and respect for our history we have here makes one proud of the Town of Newburgh. Thanks, guys!