Kleiner’s Korner: UPDATE - Levittown Motor Parkway Site Being Excavated
As mentioned in my comments on a recent post, the Motor Parkway site between Heron and Skimmer Lanes in Levittown is being developed into a private road with 9 homes being built. Excavation has begun with pieces of the Parkway having been found.
Art Kleiner
Past and Current Development Plans
This is an overall picture showing the Motor Parkway starting an eastward route from Pintail Lane on the left (where a school previously existed) through to Laurel Lane. The yellow rectangles indicate where development has occurred. (Google Earth)
Long Island historian, Paul Manton, has drawn these maps of the Motor Parkway area in Levittown which has been under development these last 20 or so years. The drawings are based on maps of the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Races. Thanks Paul!
The new area of excavation off of Heron Avenue. (Nassau Tax Assessor))
1950 (Nassau Tax Assessor)
The current dig is just 2 blocks west of the 2013/2014 Crocus Lane excavation site which resulted in "Crocus Lane Estates" and at that time newly discovered Motor Parkway posts.
"Heron Estates" is being built by the same developer and builder and will contain 9 new homes built on the north side of the Motor Parkway ROW with a private road starting from Heron Lane and going east. It will end in a cul-de-sac abetting homes already built off of Skinner Lane. But I doubt this road will be a toll road like it was over 100 years ago!
Motor Parkway Roadway Found
All photos taken Monday, Nov. 2, 2020
An Unknown Relic
The site builder believes there's been development of the site in the past. This picture might indicate such as it doesn't appear to be roadway. However, does anyone have any suggestions if it might be and what it would have been used as?
I will be keeping tabs during the excavation and will report further findings.
UPDATE: Photos from 11/24/20
Going back to the location on Nov. 24, I happened upon the builder who has always been agreeable to me looking around. Since my last visit the slabs of roadway have been carted away or buried beneath the mounds of dirt already excavated waiting to be carted away. However this piece of roadway showing the metal mesh used to hold the stones together was just waiting to be taken as a souvenir.
At least this piece was being put to good use keeping the gate open.
My builder pal had even made sure to keep what he thought might have been a parkway post for me to inspect. Although I appreciated his good intentions, I noted that I had never seen a parkway post with a circular inside. And he also kept the tire and rim for me to look at. Anyone with more knowledge than I care to comment on its age?
Could this possibly have been a post to prevent cars on the roadway after it closed? Or perhaps used during a previous construction project, which the builder suspects may have occurred as during the excavation, layers of gravel and dirt had been uncovered. And might those layers have been laid while filling in the pits?
Construction photos. This machine is used to move concrete from the mixer to the desired location.
View looking east down what will be the private road, ending in a cul-de-sac abutting homes previously constructed on Skinner Lane.
The frame of one of the nine homes to be built. Any one interested? Just think, YOU could be living on the Motor Parkway one day where the likes of Willie K. hung out!
Comments
Think this was originally more rounded. With the eye in the middle, it looks very much like my cesspool covers.
I agree with Brian on this piece Art. It’s probably from a utility installation from the early days of Levittown. Those roadway pieces are huge!
Back at the site today for a quick look before it started raining. From what I could see the huge slabs of roadway have been removed.
I grew up around the corner from this and spend many a summer day riding our bikes there.
For many many years the property owners on either side would expand their backyards into the ROW. Some even set their pools there. All was reclaimed a while back, perhaps in the 90’s.
Updated photos and commentary posted above on 11/25/20. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
If you haven’t already, you should adopt that post Art. If the post was originally vertical as shown, something round extended upwards. If it was found in a horizontal position, and the hole goes all the way through, it could’ve been a conduit.
The building of 9 homes on the Motor Parkway continues - pieces of roadway are still there! At a price of $898, 888 maybe a Vanderbilt will purchase a home!
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8-Heron-Ln-Levittown-NY-11756/2077645503_zpid/
Photos taken on March 12, 2021.
Whoa, I’d say those are most expensive homes in Levittown. The homes look to be built smack on the former roadway. If the homes have basements, I figure more artifacts would be found. Thanks for keeping us informed, Art.
Brian, you’d be surprised at some of the prices of homes in Levittown and the surrounding areas in which Levitt built. Homes are bought and then demolished to make way for much more elaborate homes (besides the homes built on previously undeveloped lots). Its very hard to find an original Levitt home these days.