New York State Park and Historic Site Closures

Thanks to New York State's budget crisis, a substantial list of state parks and historic sites are closed, or have their operations reduced, as of tomorrow. In some cases the result is as relatively trivial as a reduced golf course season; in others, entire historic sites are simply being closed. It may be hyperbolic to use a word like "tragedy," but it's certainly exceedingly unfortunate--and, I think, a very great mistake--to be so shortsighted as to deprive people of the opportunity to learn about our history through visiting these sites. Several of them are connected with the Revolutionary War and, in addition to the signs and plaques explaining what's there, have also offered reenactments with people dressed in period costumes.

So, today I went and photographed one such site that I had never visited before--the New Windsor Cantonment in Orange County, not too far from where I'm now living. This is where General George Washington moved his army for winter quarters in 1782-1783. These photos show a wide-angle view with the old monument and a tomb of an Unknown Soldier.
Another historic site to be closed in this area is the Stony Point Battlefield, a
strategic Revolutionary War site that overlooks beautiful Haverstraw Bay and includes the Stony Point Lighthouse.
F
arther upstate, in the Adirondacks just outside Lake Placid, one casualty of the closings is the John Brown Historic Site commemorating the famed abolitionist.
I have no intention of getting involved in political commentary in my blog, but I can't post this "in memoriam" without expressing the hope that the November elections result in some common sense in Albany. The people of New York deserve that.