m/v Erika Lin's Adventures: Croton-on-Hudson to Kingston, NY

Day    6
Depart              Croton-on-Hudson, NY 8:15 am
Arrive               Kingston, NY 2:15 pm
Distance            51 Miles
Cumulative      214.8 Miles

HAPPY JULY 4TH!!

We stayed at Croton for two days so no post yesterday which was a good thing as it was a bit rainy all day. Today began somewhat overcast as we continued on up the Hudson. We travelled through the Bear Mountain Bridge, and past West Point. The grey stone walls make it a mighty fortress. The Hudson River continues to be a beautiful, scenic ride. We went past Pollepel Island, which is the site of Bannerman's Castle.
Francis Bannerman purchased the island in November 1900 for use as a storage facility for his growing munitions surplus business. Because his storeroom in New York City was not large enough to provide a safe location to store thirty million surplus munitions cartridges, in the spring of 1901, he began to build an arsenal on Pollepel. Bannerman designed the buildings himself and let the constructors interpret the designs on their own. Most of the building was devoted to the stores of army surplus but Bannerman built another castle in a smaller scale on top of the island near the main structure as a residence, often using items from his surplus collection for decorative touches. The castle was nearly destroyed by a fire but some of the structure still stands today. Farther along on the river we passed by the Roosevelt mansion and the Culinary Institute of America. We arrived at our destination for the night, Hudson River Maritime Museum, in Kingston, NY. We are docked behind another looper, Queen Ann's Revenge from Tennessee. They are 'Gold Loopers' which means they have already completed their loop journey! Lynda's cousin Karen and her husband Bob live across the Hudson in Poughkeepsie. They visited us in Kingston and we all went out to dinner. Tomorrow our destination is Coeyman's Landing Marina.