Flat Stanley arrived in Garrison, NY, 55 miles north of New York City. He found lodging at Lake Celeste on the historic Old Albany Post Road. On Saturday, April 3, 2021, Stanley headed north along this dirt road, which is listed in the National Register of historic places.
While traveling along the Old Post Road, he passed several Revolutionary-era stone mile markers. The red stone with original inscription was originally 6 feet long and buried in the ground. The stone frame and bronze plaque were added to protect this pre-Revolutionary artifact.
Soon Stanley came upon the Appalachian Trail, which crosses the Old Post Road on its way from Georgia to Maine. You can see the “AT” sign just to the right of Stanley’s head in the picture below. The trail is right behind him going north.
Stanley wanted to visit West Point Military Academy next. West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military institution in the USA and played a big role in the American Revolution (1775-1783). Unfortunately West Point was closed to the public due to COVID-19. So Stanley decided to hike up Sugarloaf Hill in Castle Rock Park on the east side of the Hudson River to get a good view of West Point. The hike starts below Garrison Castle which was built in the 1880s for a very wealthy railroad magnate named William Osborn. His family still lives in the area.
After hiking up a few hundred feet Stanley found an open spot with a fantastic view (below). The US Military Academy (West Point) campus is made up of stone buildings and fortifications that were used during the American Revolution to prevent British ships from sailing upriver beyond Peekskill. The Hudson River weaves around the “point” of land jutting out. The Hudson is an estuary in this area, meaning ocean tides reverse its flow and the water is a mix of fresh and salt, with high and low tides. The local indigenous Lenape people called it Mahicantuck, “the river that flows both ways”. Just above and to the right of the campus are the cliffs of Breakneck Ridge, Storm King mountain is top left in the picture. Storm King was preserved by a 1965 US Supreme Court decision that grants “standing” to individual citizens to sue the government for harm to the environment, which was a major breakthrough for environmental accountability.
Stanley just HAD to get a closer look so he took us down to the river bank at Garrison Landing where we took this final picture. Whew what a great day!
