Thursday Sep 13, 2018

Map and road video – West Point to Albany, NY

Today was the most enjoyable day of the trip so far. That may have been because the sun made an appearance but the three sites I visited on my drive along the Hudson Valley were all great and the drive was almost all along lovely rural roads.

First stop was the United States Military Academy, better known as West Point. The only way for the public to visit the academy is on a guided bus tour but everything was fairly informal and we were able to get off the bus at several locations. I have an unusually large number of photos today and will use them to describe some highlights of each stop.

My second stop was Walkway Over The Hudson State Historic Park which is simply an old railroad bridge that has been renovated and converted to a pedestrian bridge. I walked to the mid point of the river and back.

The best stop of the day, however, was at the Home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Historic Site and the FDR Museum and Library which are next to each other in Hyde Park, NY. FDR was the only four-term president and this library is not only the first presidential library but also the only one that was built and used by the president while in office. His terms covered the period from the start of the Great Depression until almost the end of WWII so the museum had plenty to describe and explain and did an excellent job. His office is also on display exactly as it was when he last used it.

The house is totally authentic. As it was the family home for his whole life it contains everything from his birth room to his adult bedroom and office. The estate was donated to the US government when he died and it was opened to the public by the National Park Service just one year later.

The gate for the visitor center and museum at West Point.
The Cadet Chapel, one of eight chapels at West Point, has the largest organ in the world (in terms of number of active pipes).
The view of the Hudson river from West Point.
Before it became an Academy, West Point was the site where, from 1779 to 1782, a huge iron chain was stretched across the Hudson to prevent British ships from sailing upstream. Part of the chain has been displayed  at West Point since it was removed from the river and, along with a captured British cannon, is now displayed at Trophy Point.
At 1.28 miles, the Walkway Over The Hudson is the longest elevated pedestrian bridge in the world.
The view from the center of the walkway looking south.
I was just thinking what a great, isolated location this house had when a CSX train rumbled by blasting its horn.
The FDR home contains the original furniture, decorations and artifacts that were there when he died in 1945. This was his bedroom.
This was the main guest suite and was used by the likes of King George IV and Winston Churchill.
At the age of 39 FDR was paralyzed below the waist due to polio. However, the general public were unaware of this due to a press agreement never to show him in a wheelchair or being supported or carried. As a part of this deception all the bedrooms remained upstairs and he used a large dumbwaiter to move between floors.
In comparison with recent presidential libraries I have visited the FDR Library and Museum is very modest.
It does have one unique feature, the president’s office is real and was used by FDR while still president.