July 14, 2012

I left Newburgh this morning and rode down US9W to West Point, about 20 miles south.  The Visitor's Center for West Point (and the only place civilians can get onto the reservation) is in Highland Falls, NY, a pretty little town on the Hudson River.  I took a one-hour bus tour of the campus, and it was really beautiful. 

This was a WWII M-4 Sherman Tank guarding the entrance to the Museum and Visitor's Center.

Above is the superintendent's house, the oldest building on the campus.

The building to the left is the library, and to the right of that are a number of cadet's barracks.

The building in the foreground is a barracks, and in the background is one of the campus' 14 chapels.

At "Trophy Point" there is a memorial to West Point graduates who were lost during the Civil War, which was paid for by living graduates after the war:

Also at Trophy Point, you can see a bend and narrowing of the Hudson River, which was why the original fort (commanded by Benedict Arnold) was placed where it was:

After the tour of the grounds, I went to the Museum itself, which was also quite interesting with a number of displays and artifacts regarding the history of the Army and of West Point.

This was striking.  There have been 73 West Point graduates awarded the Medal of Honor, including four from Vietnam.  The last Medal was awarded in 1970.

This was the artillery piece that fired the first shot by American troops in WWI.

There was a lot to see and absorb at the museum.  Well worth the trip.

I left West Point and rode to Danbury, CT for the Connecticut Military Museum.  It was pretty interesting and had some interesting artifacts,  including a number of armored vehicles in various stages of repair. 

You can see a number of them in this picture.

From there, it was over across town to the Danbury Railway Museum.  This wasn't much to shout about, but they did have five interesting model train layouts, including this one with a Shay Engine:

Anyway, another beautiful day with lots of sunshine and plenty to see.  Tomorrow's it's to Springfield, MA for the Springfield Arsenal and another museum and then up to Rutland, VT for the night.

Miles today:  114
Total:  702