New York, My Home State

Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County

For a picture closer to home, check out the LaGrange Historical Society's little red schoolhouse. This is just down the road from my house, and is typical old New England style architecture. The building is an old rural one-room school house that used to house multiple grades all in one room. The two front doors were the Boy's entrance and the Girl's entrance.

One of this area's famous sites is the US Military Academy at West Point. The picture here shows the Hudson River at West Point. West Point is open to visitors, with a military museum as well as an nice campus and sports facilities and other activities such as outdoor evening concerts by the West Point Military Band on the bank by the river.

Another of the area's top tourist attractions is the Franklin D. Roosevelt home and library in Hyde Park. This is a picture of the home. The library is the first in a tradition of presidential libraries, with large collections of memorabilia from his presidency.

A short distance to the north the Vanderbilt Mansion, built in an opulent style reminiscent of old European palaces, is another popular place to visit.

One of my favorites is the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome located east of Route 9 between Rhinebeck and Red Hook. On Saturdays and Sundays during the summer (2:00 PM) they do air shows with old World War I era airplanes, and you can also get a ride in one of their old airplanes.

Upstate

This canyon is in Letchworth State Park in western New York State. This park, one of the state's larger parks, also has several waterfalls on this river. Note: The state's 2 largest "parks", the Adirondack and Catskill parks aren't true parks in that they are not 100% state owned land accessible to the public, they have many homes and buisinesses on private land (with certain restrictions on the landowners) that are not accessible to the public.

This is Skytop, a mountain top in the private Mohonk Preserve in the Catskill Mountains of southern New York State. This picture was taken from another mountain top during a day of cross-country skiing. Trails can also be hiked in summer, but being a private preserve, access is restricted and admission is charged. The nearby Minnewaska State Park has similar facilities (and also charges admission for cross country skiing).