Plans Proposed To Re-Name NY Bridge After Levon Helm

If a County Executive in upstate New York’s Ulster County has his way, there will soon be a Levon Helm Memorial Bridge in the town of Hurley. The Daily Freeman reports that yesterday, County Executive Michael Hein proposed naming a soon-to-be-opened, rebuilt bridge over the Esopus Creek in honor of the late The Band drummer yesterday.

[Photo by Jeremy Gordon]

“This particular area, the farmland of Hurley, was close to his heart and he would visit often – sometimes with fellow musicians for an impromptu concert at Gill’s farmstand,” Hein told the Daily Freeman. “He was an ambassador for our musical and cultural heritage and a tireless advocate for our farmers, farmland and open space.”

Now Hein has to convince the county Legislature to name the bridge after Helm as a “fitting honor to a global musical icon for whom a special place is reserved in the heart of Ulster County.”

The proposal comes one year after a stretch of road near Levon’s barn/home/studio was dedicated as Levon Helm Memorial Boulevard. Helm rose to fame as a member of The Band and hosted many Rambles on his compound in the years before his 2012 death.