Whenever we return to Freehold from Oneonta on Rte. 223 we approach Davenport from the west. We always look to the left of the highway and see a broad expanse of level land. This is the floor of Glacial Lake Davenport. About 14,000 years ago there was a glacial lake here, stretching across the valley. Back, behind us, there had been a glacier. It had been retreating and it dammed the valley, creating the lake. Eventually that glacier melted away and the waters of the lake drained into the Susquehanna River and the lake disappeared.
But the lake bottom could not disappear and it remains. We want to get used to this sort of thing. Wherever you travel, we want your eyes to be trained to take notice of such flat landscapes. They are very often lake bottoms and we want you to be aware of this. To confirm this we always carry a barbeque skewer. We stop get out and try to press it into the ground. If it is a lake bottom then there is nothing but silt and clay so the skewer is easily driven into the ground. If it is not a glacial lake bottom then it is “two rocks for every dirt” and we cannot drive the skewer into the ground.
Our photo below was taken right at the western edge of Davenport. We were standing on the very shoreline of the lake and we looked out into the deeper realms of the lake bottom. Can you look and “see” the water getting deeper as we go “offshore?’
