Our ride to West Point along the mountainous shoreline of the Hudson was marred only by the increasing rain. After proving our identities with security, we took a narrated bus tour around the Point learning about its military position in the Revolutionary War. Washington built the fort to block the British from dividing the colonies.



The Cadet Chapel was described as military gothic with its vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows donated by graduating classes. A candle in a front pew burns to honor MIAs and POWs. It has the world’s largest pipe organ in a religious building with 23,500 pipes. The Lutheran Chapel has plaques honoring historical West Point graduates with George Washington the most prominent. Both Benedict Arnold’s name and date of death were rubbed out by a cadet who wanted to remove the traitor from a place of honor. We drove past both the Catholic and Jewish Chapels.




The cemetery is primarily for graduates, their spouse and one child. Among the names are Abner Doubleday of baseball fame, Sylvanius Thayer who made West Point the educational institution it is today, and Thaddeus Kosciuszko the Polish fortification engineer during the Revolutionary War. The most visited site in the cemetery is of Mickey Marcus, the West Point graduate who helped create the Israeli Army. The grave markers frequently have small stones atop them indicating that someone has come to pay respect. This is a custom borrowed from a Jewish tradition. A monument stands over the river with canons bearing the names of the battles the Army has fought.

After another delicious buffet luncheon at the Thayer Hotel (founded by former graduates), we spent time touring the West Point Museum with its displays of ancient and modern weaponry and wars.





It’s difficult to believe, but we had to eat again. This time it was pizza at the campground and cakes to honor birthdays and anniversaries celebrated during the caravan. Some people got a bit “physical” during the celebration.