Cherry Street, located behind Jones Avenue is one of two
undedicated* streets in
West Point. (the other is Heebner Street,
between Garfield Ave. and Park Road.) Township maps
show Cherry Street running between Chestnut Street and
4th
Street.
Unlike Heebner Street which has an entrance to the firehouse
and gets plenty of traffic, Cherry Street only goes
halfway up the block before vanishing in a neatly tended
property now owned by Merck, Sharpe and Dhome. |
|
|
|
Cherry Street on the Upper Gwynedd zoning
map. Notice "Snyder Lane." It once led to a Boy Scouts
campground.
Notice also, on the left is "Fifth St." Like Cherry
Street, Fifth Street doesn't actually exist, except on
maps. |
|
|
|
|
|
People meet at 2nd and Cherry almost every morning, and
most of them work for Thomas R. Smith, tree
surgeon.
|
|
|
Just as the firehouse paved their parking lot into
Heebner Street, the parking lot at Tom Smith's has
been paved into Second Street, causing the street to
disappear and meld into the parking lot.
|
|
|
Here is Cherry Street at the very end of Second Street,
still visible though rarely used by motor vehicles.
This is the eastern-most edge of West Point Village. To
the right is the property of Merck, Sharpe and Dhome.
Some of the foliage on the right was planted by Merck to
hide their chain link fence, reducing the width of the
street |
|
|
|
|
The view behind
the foliage and landscaping, looking towards 2nd Street
from the middle of the block.
The area to the left on the other side of the fence was
the approximate location of the Amos Jones farm.
|
|
|
|
|
Jones Avenue, middle of the 200 block
facing East. Cherry Street vanishes at the rear of this
property.
In the 1990's Merck bought several properties on Jones Avenue, then
promptly demolished the houses.
Today there are only three homes left on the East side
of Jones Avenue. |
| |
|
* An undedicated street is
not maintained by the Township. Each property owner is
responsible for his "half". This explains
how Merck
was able to landscape the area next to their fence,
cutting the width of Cherry Street in half. Where Merck
owns both sides of Cherry street (because they bought the
property on Jones Ave.) they have simple done away with
it. |
|
|
|
 |
