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From its origins as a Native American trail to its iconic status in global culture today, Broadway tells the story of New York as it grew from a Dutch colony into a world-class city. Broadway has been the site of many firsts and many superlatives: the first subway line in the city, the tallest buildings, and one of the longest streets in the world. Beginning along the winding streets of the original settlements amid the skyscrapers of the Financial District, Broadway heads north through the neighborhoods of SoHo and Greenwich Village. It then traverses some of the city's most famous plazas, including Flatiron, Herald Square, Times Square, and Columbus Circle, before entering Upper Manhattan and passing institutions like Lincoln Center, Columbia University, and City College. Today, Broadway continues to be at the forefront of New York City's urban developments.

American cities and towns have always prided themselves on their grand avenues. The social elite and industrial captains often transformed normal thoroughfares into magnificent promenades lined with mansions to showcase their wealth. Post-Civil War America experienced a burst of this activity, but Rochester, America's first true boomtown, had already set its sights on a grand avenue as early as 1840. The nouveau riche were anxious to establish a prestigious social colony befitting their stature. Using local and national architects, landscapers, and craftsmen, they transformed East Avenue from a crudely hacked pioneer lane into one of the grandest approaches to any city in the world. Although somewhat altered, it is still Rochester's most beautiful street and remains one of Monroe County's most spectacular features.

For motorists traveling in Dutchess County on the Taconic State Parkway, the dominant impression is the beauty of a seemingly unchanged natural landscape. Nestled under the shadow of the Taconic (Berkshire) Mountains to the east with views west to the Catskills, the parkway follows a ridge halfway between the towns and cities on the Hudson River and those in the Harlem Valley bordering New England. The parkway, as envisioned by a commission appointed in 1925 and initially chaired by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was built "to open up a very beautiful section at present inaccessible" and "to provide a new through road from New York City." Roosevelt later claimed the road as his "invention." Taconic Pathways shows in part what has happened to the parkway and to five remote towns that it opened to accelerated growth and considerable change. In the beginning, the parkway was a leisurely recreational
experience that offered breathtaking views, many of which were previously reserved for circling hawks or the fortunate locals who knew the back trails to the heights; today, the parkway has become a route for commuting residents. Before the parkway was built, Beekman, Union Vale, LaGrange, Washington, and Stanford were dotted with farms and hamlets; with the
parkway came the rise of suburban living and an accelerated decline of the family farm.