South to Newburgh and West Point

Sunday, September 3 -- Saugerties to Newburgh and West Point -- 41 miles

We had a relatively short trip on the river today so that we could spend time visiting the US Military Academy at West Point. There is no marina at West Point, so we left the boat at a marina in Newburgh about ten miles north. We made the run to Newburgh in the morning, had a nice lunch along the waterfront, then took an Uber to West Point. Unfortunately, the Uber took a while to book and arrive, so we didn't have time to visit the museum before our 3pm bus tour. But the tour was excellent, with a very knowledgeable guide. Here are scenes from the tour, starting with Zach and June and the view north up the Hudson, looking across The Plain (where the cadets march) to one of the barracks buildings with the Cadet Chapel on the hill in the background, and the altar wall in the Chapel. 

West Point is the oldest continuously operating Army post in the US, dating back to 1778, when Washington had the Continental Army occupy it due to its commanding position over a narrow S curve in the river. Artillery on the heights and a heavy chain stretched across the river (plus generally difficult sailing conditions at this particular spot) were successful in keeping the British from sailing up the Hudson and dividing the colonies in half. A section of that chain is on display. It stretched 600 yards across the river in the area shown below (which looks about ninety degrees to the east from the photo above of Zach and June). The British never attempted to breach the chain. (The careful reader will recall from an earlier post that the British attempt to split the colonies along the Hudson with a land-based attack from Canada was foiled in 1777 with the defeat of Burgoyne's army at Saratoga. The fort and chain at West Point helped keep them from trying again.)

Our day wasn't all about West Point -- interesting though it was. There were lots of fun sights on the river. First thing in the morning we saw this person (barely visible in front of the kayak) with a support crew on some sort of long-distance swim down the river. 

We saw lighthouses at Kingston and Esopus Meadows, 

and some really spectacular bridges, including the George Clinton Kingston-Rhinecliff under-deck truss bridge (opened in 1957),   

the FDR Mid-Hudson suspension bridge at Poughkeepsie-Highland (opened in 1930 when FDR was the governor of New York but not named for him until 1994),

and the I-84 Hamilton Fish Newburgh-Beacon continuous truss bridges (first one opened 1963 and the second in 1980). We'll leave it to the interested reader to research why George Clinton and Hamilton Fish would have bridges named after them. 

John's favorite was the Walkway Over the Hudson Bridge just north of the Mid-Hudson Bridge. This steel cantilever bridge was built in 1886-88 as a double-track railroad bridge, taken out of service in 1974 due to damage from a rail tie fire, then reopened in 2009 as a pedestrian walkway. It is the longest elevated pedestrian bridge in the country at 1.28 miles and is 212 feet above the water. If you look closely at the second picture you can see people walking and biking across the bridge. The steel work on this bridge looks wonderfully delicate. 

All five of us stayed at the Thayer Hotel, located on the military academy grounds, and had dinner there in a grand old room. The hotel opened in 1926 and is named after Sylvanus Thayer, known as "the Father of the Military Academy". Here is how the hotel looked from the river when we passed it the next morning.

P.S. We apologize for the tardiness in posting about our three days cruising on the Hudson River. We were too busy at the time, and we flew back to Naples the day after our last day on the boat and have been consumed with chores around the new house. We'll publish the blog on our third and final day this weekend. It will have LOTS of pictures -- since we cruised right past Manhattan -- and some summary statistics for our seafaring summer sojourn.