Adventures of Boreas: Days 352 and 353 – at Kingston City Marina, Kingston, NY

There are some places we would like to visit along the Hudson River, so we stopped in Kingston for three nights, rented a car and did some touring. Our stops included the Vanderbilt Mansion, the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, the U.S. Military Academy at WestPoint and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home, Library and Museum.

The Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park was built by Frederick William Vanderbilt and his wife Louise. They moved into the mansion in late 1898, although the interior plastering and woodcarving wasn’t completed until the next spring. Although the home in Hyde Park was said to be Frederick’s favorite, the Vanderbilt’s used this retreat for only a few weeks in the spring and fall and an occasional winter weekend. The mansion was donated to the federal government in 1939 and except for some of the owners’ belongings, the mansion and its contents remain unchanged from the time the Vanderbilts lived here. We have not seen many mansions from this era and thought it looked rather cold. It was hard to imagine anyone actually living here – there didn’t seem to be any place to just sit and relax, just lots of space for entertaining. I did like the beautiful green marble in the entryway, but most of the rest of the mansion was just too fussy and showy.

After our tour of the Vanderbilt Mansion we went to the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). We started our visit at the CIA with lunch in the American Bounty Restaurant. The CIA has five restaurants on site – think of them as the food world’s most famous classrooms as the students prepare and serve all of the meals in these restaurants. The food was absolutely delicious and I would highly recommend this stop to everyone. In fact I would love to try the other restaurants on campus – maybe on the next time through.

We also got to take a tour of the campus later in the afternoon. We learned that students major in either culinary arts or baking & pastry arts. The wing where the baking & pastry arts classes take place is well designed for tour groups as each kitchen has large windows to the hallway. We watched students decorating cakes, creating individual chocolate desserts and baking bread. It smelled so amazing in the hallway that I think I gained weight just looking in the window and sniffing the air. We also got to see some of the culinary arts students at work. Most of their action was going on around the stove-tops, so it was a bit more difficult to see exactly what they were working on. In addition to seeing what was going on in the various kitchens, we also learned a bit about the history of the school and how their curriculum works.

Due to the extremely hot temperatures (followed by a torrential downpour) we decided that two tours were enough for our first full day in Kingston. The following morning we were on the road early and headed south to WestPoint. Unlike the Naval Academy in Annapolis where visitors are allowed almost full access to the grounds of the campus, we had to be escorted in a tour group at WestPoint. So we loaded into a bus and got a bus tour around campus (with two spots to get out and walk). The campus and its buildings are beautiful and there are many statues and sculptures honoring various WestPoint graduates. It is unfortunate that we only got to drive by many of these as they would have been fun to look at in more detail.

After a quick lunch we worked our way back north to visit the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt. We toured Springwood, the home FDR was born in and what was his “official” residence his entire life (he lived in the New York governor’s mansion and the White House, but this was his official residence). The estate was managed by his mother, Sara, and according to our tour guide, Eleanor never felt completely at home at Springwood. So that they would have their own space when they were in Hyde Park, FDR built Val-Kill (kill is the Dutch word for river or creek) for Eleanor and Top Cottage for himself – both of these homes are within a few miles of Springwood – we’ll have to save those tours for next time. Springwood definitely felt like a home where people actually lived; the living room was comfortable and you could imagine people enjoying a fire here while they played games and talked.

Miles: 0 Bridges: 0 Locks: 0