Day 436
5,635 miles
The Hudson River has been a delight. We are content to travel 10 miles an hour, watching the steep green hills that line its bank and waiting to see what is around the next bend. Most of the land is undeveloped, but when there are houses, they are tucked high up in the hills with no water access.
We are accompanied by the soundtrack of train whistles with freight trains on our left side and the more frequent passenger lines on our right. The whistles make me smile as they remind me of my brother who was a railroad engineer.
Views of the Hudson River
As with most pictures, they don't really do the scenery justice
The above pictures were taken on Friday when the weather was cloudy.
The bottom picture was taken Tuesday with sunny skies.
The Catskill Mountains in the distance
On Sunday we left Half Moon Bay (Croton-on-Hudson) and went 41 miles north to Shadows Marina in Poughkeepsie. I just love saying that name . . . Poughkeepsie!
It is 10 minutes from the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Museum and Library and an hour drive to West Point Military Academy, 2 places I have been to but was anxious to have Mike tour them.
A rental car was not available until noon on Monday, so we took an Uber ride to Hyde Park. Mike and I enjoy visiting presidential libraries so FDR's was another one to cross off our list.
Franklin Roosevelt was the 32nd president and was the only one to be elected to four terms. He established the first presidential library - building, dedicating, and working in it while still in office. He had the foresight to understand the historical significance of his personal and public papers and possessions.
Museum and Library
Franklin married Eleanor Roosevelt in 1905. She didn't even have to change her last name or monogram! She was an equal partner to him, improving the lives of millions as a reformer, teacher, journalist, political activist and an advocate for the underprivileged. In a real sense, she was her husband's legs as she traveled the country. President Truman selected her to be the first Ambassador to the United Nations. There is a whole section of the library devoted to her accomplishments, but a school group was there and I couldn't get close to take a good picture.
Roosevelt's platform of reforms and putting Americans to work was called "The New Deal".
In his first address to the nation, he used the famous phrase - "we have nothing to fear but fear itself."
One of his first actions was of particular interest - addressing the banking crisis.
Mike looking at a display
FDR was known for his "fireside chats" where he would address the nation over the radio. You could sit at this kitchen table and listen to some of his actual chats.
His study. Everything was left exactly as when he used it.
His wheelchair is bottom right.
This is the desk FDR used in the Oval Office. It is the same one his predecessor used - Herbert Hoover. The desk was a gift to Hoover by the Grand Rapids, Michigan Furniture Manufacturer's Association.
Roosevelt's speech after the bombing of Pearl Harbor
This picture was taken only a day before his death.
Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, GA at the age of 63.
He is credited with creating Social Security, the GI Bill, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Public Housing, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Federal Communications Commission, Farm Subsidies, the Federal School Lunch program and many more programs that benefit Americans today.
The bust are of Roosevelt and Churchill. The sculptures in the middle were made from fragments of the Berlin Wall by Churchill's granddaughter.
Also on the grounds is Springwood - the birthplace, lifelong home, and burial place of Roosevelt.
Burial site for the President and First Lady
(When I had made the trip years ago with my sisters, we had the same issue. No admittance. But then one of my sisters pulled the Golden Ticket out of her purse - a.k.a. a military ID she is entitled to carry because my brother-in-law is retired military. We were just able to drive around the campus at that time, so having a tour guide explaining things this time was very helpful.)
Our view of West Point when we went past it on Sunday
Visitor Center. It looks like a postcard, but it is not. I snapped this picture just before we got on the tour bus. If you enlarge the picture, you will see the Hudson River through the windows.
West Point was established as a military post in 1778, making it the oldest continuously operating Army post in the United States. It became the United States Military Academy, a teaching institution in 1802. The tour was 2 hours long, riding on a school bus and stopping at various locations . It wasn't like the Naval Academy, where after showing our ID, we could wander the grounds freely.
Our guide mixed historical facts with stories of famous West Point grads - some were fun tales and others were sad ones. Here's a fun one - The cadets throw their hats in the air after graduation. They do not get their own back, it would be impossible. Tradition has them write a note or put a memento in their cap for whoever finds it, which could be anyone attending the ceremony as the caps are left on the field. One cadet put half of a $20 bill in his cap, along with his name, address, and a note stating the person would get the other half of the bill if they write to him. The young girl who picked up the cap did and they remained pen pals.
West Point Museum
Mitchie Stadium (pronounced "Mikey")
Outside the Old Cadet Chapel located within the cemetery.
Inside the Old Chapel
Present Day Army Chapel. It was built in 1910 and has the largest pipe organ in a religious structure.
Inside the Chapel
It is tradition for each class to donate a stain glass partition for the larger window. Often a class will donate 2, one for their class and one for the class 100 years prior. The first time a window was installed it cost the class $300. The company that made the stained glass did some research and discovered one of their ancestors graduated from the Academy and has never raised the price.
Superintendent's House.
On the fence in front - "Go Army Beat Navy"
West Point Cemetery. To be buried here you have to have been a graduate or spouse of a graduate or child of a graduate. The Academy supplies free of charge the small white headstones, but families may, at their own cost, use a headstone of their own choosing. We walked a small portion of the cemetery with the guide as she shared some of those sad stories.
"He was a soldier who loved his God, his country, his troops and his family."
Grave of George Armstrong Custer, a West Point grad (just barely according to the tour guide) who was killed with his entire command at the Battle of Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876.
While explaining a statue, the tour guide asked everyone to walk a few steps to the left and turn around. She said, "This is our million dollar view." Mike and I just smiled at each other, realizing we have had this view from the boat the past few days!
The Long Gray Line is the continuum of all the graduates and cadets of the Untied States Military Academy at West Point. Pictured here are Grant, Pershing, MacArthur, Eisenhower and Bradley. In his speech to cadets in 1962, General MacArthur reminded them that "the Long Gray Line has never failed the nation . . ."
This display was part of a new walk-through section of the visitor center called "The West Point Experience."
The motto of the Army Academy
The Cadet Honor Code is:
"A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate those who do."
On Tuesday we kept making our way north, traveling 56 miles to Shady Harbor Marina in New Baltimore, NY. It seems impossible that only one week ago we were in Baltimore, MD. We are so grateful to Jim Dawson who has been invaluable this past week with helping us get True North this far. He is going back home on Wednesday. We picked Shady Harbor for its proximity to Albany International Airport because we will be leaving the boat to fly home for a few days.
Unique and Random Photo of the Day:
Another sight on the Hudson - Sing Sing Prison.
Now we understand the phrase - "I'm sending you up the river. . . "
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