COLD SPRING, NEW YORK
January 2, 2015
January 2, 2015
In October 2013, Scenic Hudson re-opened
the West Point Foundry site after it had been closed for park improvements. The
West Point Foundry preserve, as the park is known, now contains marked walking
trails including a "paved" metal walkway through a portion of the
park, interpretive signage, artistic recreations of two Foundry structures, and
a parking lot and restrooms.
When I first visited the West Point Foundry in 1999 (or maybe 1998?), three
years after it officially opened to the public, I walked a gravel path from the
train station but parking was available at the very end of Kemble Avenue where
the road was gated off. A portion of the gate was open to allow pedestrians
through. I recall a small junkyard of sorts where the present, new, parking lot
is located. Adjacent to the new parking lot is a park sign comprising the letter
WPFP atop a metal-screen box filled with bricks
excavated from the Foundry. This style of sign base is used
throughout the park. Nearby is an interpretive sign for the park, and
restrooms.
This imaginative recreation of a gun platform is where cannons were
test-fired across the Hudson River.
Interpretive signage includes images of the Foundry in various eras,
including its decline and disuse.
The Office building's cupola is temporarily encased at ground-level,
awaiting reinstallation.
The trail along Foundry Brook now has several benches.
Various fragmentary ruins can still be found along the trail.
The trails end just before the waterfall under Route 9D.
Blast Furnace ruins.
This view of the blast furnace site
corresponds approximately with the lower image on page
17 at this link.
Interpretive sign illustration for the Boring Mill.
View of the Boring Mill today. At this mill openings were bored into the
solid cast cannons.
Even the stairs were incorporated into the interpretation of the site.
A view of the water wheel recreation from the Red (upper) Trail.
Recreation of a turntable. Railroad tracks and rail cars were plentiful
in the foundry
to help move materials through the vast complex of factory buildings.
Pattern shop remnant wall.
This page copyright © 2014 by Robert J. Yasinsac.
These
images cannot
be copied or reproduced without permission from Robert Yasinsac.
