
The name "Old Exit 19" honors a little-known figure from Putnam County history.
While the travels of the Leatherman through Putnam, Westchester and western Connecticut were well-documented (just ask the historians!), those of the Stringman were not.
The Stringman, like the Leatherman, came through Brewster, Dykemans and Carmel on foot at regular intervals in the 1800s, tracing a circuit that included northern Westchester and the Danbury area. Unlike the Leatherman, the Stringman carried a ukulele and a banjo, and would sing and play for anyone who would listen. Unfortunately, in his travels, he rarely had a chance to bathe, and so whatever audiences he could attract would not stay for long. This disturbed him greatly, and drove him from the popular songs of the day toward more introspective creations, incorporating the calls of the wild animals with whom he was left to converse.
He would often camp in Dykemans, near where Route 312 and Interstate 84 now intersect. When the excavating machinery came to clear the way for the new interstate, a worker discovered the Stringman's writings, including primitive transcriptions of his music. Three local musicians stumbled upon these ancient documents, and found them utterly incomprehensible, but they appreciated his struggles, and called their group "Exit 19" for the interchange near where the Stringman's belongings were found. When the Department of Transportation re-numbered all the exits on I-84, they changed their name to "Old Exit 19", because neither they nor any of their fans could be bothered to learn the new exit number.