West Point

Constitution Island

Battlefield · Constitution Island, Cold Spring, NY 10516

The island across the Hudson from West Point that anchored the American side of the Great Chain. Batteries on Constitution Island together with the West Point shore batteries created a crossfire covering the river approach. Fort Constitution was an early American fortification here. The island later became the home of the Warner family, whose daughters conducted Sunday school classes for cadets throughout the 19th century. The Constitution Island Association manages access.

Fort Putnam

Battlefield · West Point Military Academy, NY 10996

Kosciuszko's primary fort on the heights above the Academy, completed 1778 and restored in the 1970s–80s. Fort Putnam commanded the plateau and the approaches to the main West Point position. It was the key fortification in the interlocking system that made a direct British assault prohibitively costly. Walking the restored earthworks provides direct experience of 18th-century fortification engineering and a commanding view over the Hudson Valley.

Kosciuszko's Garden

Landmark · West Point Military Academy, NY 10996

A small garden carved into the rocky bluff above the Hudson River by Thaddeus Kosciuszko during his engineering work at West Point, 1778–1780. Kosciuszko created the garden with a waterfall and plantings as a contemplative space during his years at the fortress. It is the only surviving physical work Kosciuszko made at West Point that is not a fortification. A stone marker commemorates the site, which remains a quiet corner of the Academy grounds.

United States Military Academy at West Point

Landmark · West Point, NY 10996

Founded in 1802 on the same ground Kosciuszko fortified in 1778, West Point Military Academy occupies the plateau above the Hudson's S-bend that Washington called the most important position in North America. The Academy's grounds encompass Fort Putnam, the site of the Great Chain, and the overlook where Washington directed the fortress's construction. Trophy Point displays a section of the original 1778 Great Chain. The West Point Museum, open to the public, holds the finest collection of military artifacts in the United States.

Trophy Point and the Great Chain

Monument · Trophy Point, West Point, NY 10996

Trophy Point on the Academy grounds displays a substantial section of the original 1778 Great Chain — the massive iron chain stretched across the Hudson River to block British warships. Each link weighs approximately 114 pounds; the full chain weighed roughly 65 tons and stretched 1,700 feet across the river. The chain was installed each spring and removed each winter. The surviving links at Trophy Point are the most tangible physical remnant of the fortification that defined West Point's Revolutionary War role.

West Point Museum

Museum · 2110 New South Post Rd, West Point, NY 10996

The oldest and largest military museum in the United States, with collections spanning from ancient warfare to modern conflicts. The Revolutionary War galleries include artifacts from the West Point fortifications, the Arnold-André conspiracy, and the Great Chain. The museum's depth makes it an essential resource for understanding not just West Point's role in the Revolution but the full arc of American military history that developed from the fortress's founding.