Durham's byway is a road map of the valley

Durham is best read from the road, but not in the quick-drive sense. The Durham Valley Scenic Byway corridor sits in the Town of Durham, about 24 miles northwest of Catskill and 30 miles southwest of Albany. It slopes from the northern Catskill escarpment toward a plain that rolls north to Albany and east to the Hudson River Valley.

That geography explains why the roads matter so much. The byway includes roads in the hamlets of Durham and Cornwallville, with County Route 20, the old Susquehanna Turnpike, acting as a backbone. The plan says the turnpike, built between 1800 and 1806, changed transportation into and through the valley by linking the Mid-Hudson over the northern Catskills toward the Susquehanna River Valley.

The history is more than road history. Families from Durham, Connecticut, settled the valley in 1784, drawn by stream waterpower. Farming became the long-running industry, with fields and pasture still part of the scenery. Durham feels like a town where road, creek, farm, and mountain shoulder all have to be understood together. The byway lets that whole pattern stay visible.