Sleepy Hollow Vacation: Day 3

Monday, October 25th, 2010:

We got up around 7:30 a.m., picked up breakfast at McDonalds, and were on our way to Haverstraw, NY by 8:30 a.m. Tracy had estimated it to be about a 30 minute drive but it ended up only be 6 miles (???). From the 1800s to the 1930s, Haverstraw became a top brickmaking center that provided New York City with about 90 percent of its bricks. It was a good thing we had time to spare because he had forgotten to get directions to where we were going. Today, we are taking a boat cruise on the Hudson River. We drove all over town (mind you, it was a small town). Finally, just outside of town, we stopped to ask for directions... lo and behold, we were only about 100 yards from our destination. After parking, we chatted with a few of the cruise staff for a bit. We still had a little time before the cruise set sail, so we drove to a nearby park to take some pictures.

We finally boarded the boat for the cruise. The boat we would be cruising on was built in 1917. The Commander has the distinction of being the last operating vessel that served in the U.S. Navy in World War I, and joins the battleship TEXAS and the battle cruiser OLYMPIC, as the only remaining ships from that era. She displays the World War I Victory Medal as a token of her service. It was pretty cool! We set off about 1/2 late because 2 tour busses got caught in morning traffic.
The oldest lighthouse on the Hudson River, Stony Point Light, was built in 1826 and restored and relit in 1995.

Gypsum plant (make sheetrock):

Indian Point Nuclear Power plant:
Commuter train into NYC (run every 20 minutes or so):

Bear Mountain Bridge- When the bridge formally opened on November 27, 1924, it was the longest suspension bridge span in the world (does it look familiar? same designer as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco):


The river was foggy to begin with but then it cleared off and it was a beautiful day. The Autumn colors along the river were gorgeous!

Sugar Loaf Mountain:

West Point- West Point's role in our nation's history dates back to the Revolutionary War, when both sides realized the strategic importance of the commanding plateau on the west bank of the Hudson River. General George Washington considered West Point to be the most important strategic position in America. Washington personally selected Thaddeus Kosciuszko, one of the heroes of Saratoga, to design the fortifications for West Point in l778, and Washington transferred his headquarters to West Point in l779. Continental soldiers built forts, batteries and redoubts and extended a l50-ton iron chain across the Hudson to control river traffic. Fortress West Point was never captured by the British, despite Benedict Arnold's treason. West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in America:


More beautiful colors:


Pollepel Island is an island in the Hudson River. Also known as Bannerman Island, it is the site of Bannerman's Castle. The principal feature on the island is Bannerman's Castle, an abandoned military surplus warehouse. It was built in the style of a castle by businessman Francis Bannerman VI (1851–1918). It remains one of a very small number of structures in the United States which can properly be called a castle. Francis Bannerman VI purchased the island in 1900 for use as a storage facility for his growing surplus business. After the Spanish-American War Bannerman bought 90% of the US army surplus, including a large quantity of ammunition. Because his storeroom in New York City was not large enough, and to provide a safe location to store munitions, in the spring of 1901 he began to build an arsenal on Pollepel. In August 1920, 200 pounds of shells and powder exploded in an ancillary structure, destroying a portion of the complex. Today, the castle is property of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and is mostly in ruins. While the exterior walls still stand, all the internal floors and non-structural walls have since burned down.


We turned around and headed back down the Hudson. More beautiful landscape:

The seagulls loved flying along side the boat. It was funny!

There is a cool castle up on a hill on the east side of the river. This is what our guide told us about the castle, whether or not it is true, I cannot say: "Urban legend links this castle and the Wizard of Oz. It seems that Frank L Baum was a student at West Point. From there, one can clearly see the castle. He hated school and used to daydream alot, making up stories about that castle and a witch that lived there. It's said that the costumes for the winged monkeys were inspired by the cadet uniforms." Built in 1881, Castle Rock was the estate of Illinois Central Railroad president William Osborn, who also owned hundreds of acres of land surrounding property. Since Osborn’s death in 1894, Castle Rock has passed down through numerous Osborn generations and is still privately owned by the family.



More fall colors:

Supposedly Billy Joel spent a summer at this home and wrote "New York State of Mind":



Mobile Home Park with priceless river views:



Gorgeous Autumn colors:

Marina where The Commander is docked:

The cruise was 6 hours long but it really didn't feel that long. We were afraid we might get bored but never did. Gino, the tour guide, talked a lot of the way and gave lots of interesting tidbits of information about the boat and the area along the river. We ate lunch on the cruise - hot dogs and chips. We arrived back at the dock around 4:30 p.m. We went back to our hotel room to freshen up a bit. We had seen a huge mall nearby so we decided to go there for dinner and a movie. We had dinner at Chevy's and saw the movie "Hereafter". Dinner was good... the movie was not - very boring! We spent the night at the Super 8 in Nyack.