BBQ tent with Warner house in background; photo: L.S.Armstrong
BBQ celebrates island, West Point, and history
Members of the Constitution Island Association gathered on Saturday to celebrate the island, regional history, and their ties to West Point, which owns the island. As part of the festivities at their annual Seafood Barbeque, they saluted the Hudson River Valley Institute, part of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, and Dr. James M. Johnson, a retired Army colonel and military history expert who serves as the institute’s executive director. He also holds the Dr. Frank T. Bumpus chair in Hudson River Valley History at Marist.
Under bright blue skies that periodically darkened with storm clouds, the attendees strolled the lawn outside the Warner House, long-time home to the 19th-century Warner family; enjoyed seafood appetizers and a barbeque dinner of lobster and chicken, and toasted one another and the magnificent setting, on the edge of the Hudson River. [For more on Constitution Island, see ”Portions of Warner House Reopened for Summer Tours,” in the June 22, 2012, issue of The Paper or online at Philipstown.info.]
