Route: New York City → West Point → Albany → Saratoga Springs. Total mileage: 200. Nonstop driving time: Roughly four hours
Revolutionary road follows the Hudson River north from the Big Apple, which was occupied by British forces for much of the war, and its harbor framed both retreat and ultimate triumph, with revolutionary sites including Manhattan´s Fraunces Tavern (above, at 307 years the USA´s oldest restaurant, where the Sons of Liberty plotted the Boston Tea Party, Federal Hall, the site of USA´s first Congress and George Washington´s first presidential inauguration, and Morris-Jumel House (a wartime headquarters of Washington), while up in the Bronx, the Van Cortlandt House, where Washington also stayed, along with British general William Howe and the Marquis de Lafayette (not at the same time, obviously). Heading north, the dramatic Hudson Highlands reveal why this river corridor was strategically vital. At the United States Military Academy, the cliffs narrow around a bend Washington fortified to prevent British control of the river. Then heading up the Hudson Valley, you can stop at various post-revolution but still fascinating (mostly 19th-century) spots such as painter Frederick Church´s Olana outside Hudson, Hyde Park´s Vanderbilt Estate and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt home and presidential library. With a stop in state capital Albany (one of the USA´s oldest cities, established in ), with sites such as the Schuyler Mansion, home of a prominent Revolutionary War general, and plenty of revolutionary history showcased in the New York State Museum. And the route ends just north of Albany in the charming spa town of Saratoga Springs, near the battlefield (now a national historical park) where the colonials´ victory in 1777 persuaded France to enter the war (a global turning point); Saratoga is also known for its historic 19th-century spa and summer horse racetrack. The Hudson Valley’s vineyards, orchards, and river bluffs make this one of the most scenic Revolutionary corridors, particularly in autumn when foliage ignites the hillsides.
Read more in my post 5 Revolutionary Road Trips to Mark the USA´s 250th Anniversary.
Comments