Peekskill, NY historian John Curran is waging a battle to preserve what he suspects is the inspiration for the Yellow Brick Road in L.Frank Baum's children's novel - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Baum was born in Chittenango, east of Syracuse, in 1856. At the age of 12, the frail child was sent to the now-defunct Peekskill Military Academy on a fall day in 1868. That's all fact.
The lore is what happened next. Mr. Curran believes the 12-year-old took a steamboat down the Hudson. When he got to the dock, he asked for directions to the military academy and was told, "Just follow the yellow brick road."
Maps show the road led from the river up the hill to the academy. Most of the road has been paved over, but a stretch near the river is still made of the original brick.
