First tours in 12 years set for August
Constitution Island, closed to the public for more than a decade, will again welcome visitors on a limited basis beginning this summer.
The historic, 280-acre island located just south of Cold Spring is owned by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Public visitation will be overseen by the Constitution Island Association, the nonprofit responsible for upkeep and maintenance of the island’s historic Warner house and grounds.
Three to four island tours with up to 30 participants each will be offered on Saturdays from August through September, with online registration required in advance. Putnam County Tourism will provide transportation to themed special events on the last Saturday of each month, including a reenactment in September, said Vincent Tamagna, who chairs the CIA.
Educational programs will also be available to school groups, possibly beginning in the fall. An official opening is scheduled for July 27, Tamagna said during a “soft” opening held on June 29.
“This has been a long time coming,” Tamagna, who is also Putnam County’s transportation director, told a group of about 30 attendees. “You’re really the first tour since 2012.”
The island’s rich history predates European settlement, with habitation dating back an estimated 6,000 years. Valued by Native Americans for fishing, hunting and trading, it is considered one of the most significant indigenous archaeological sites in the country.
Constitution Island was part of the roughly 250-square-mile land grant made to the Philipse family, Philipstown’s namesake, by the British Crown in 1754.
During the American Revolution, Gen. George Washington ordered that the island be fortified through construction of redoubts in 1775. Three years later, the Great Chain was installed between the island and West Point to prevent British ships from sailing upstream. Remnants of the chain still exist on the island.
In 1837, Henry Warner and his family began living on the island full-time; his daughters, Susan and Anna, became writers to help out during what was a difficult time financially.
They did well.
Susan sold more than 1 million copies of her 1850 novel The Wide, Wide World and Anna’s hymn, “Jesus Loves Me,” published 10 years later, became known worldwide. The two sisters taught Bible classes to the cadets at West Point for 40 years and were the first civilians buried in the cemetery there. Constitution Island was bequeathed to West Point in 1909.
Between 2016 and 2021, the military academy funded major repairs to the aging Warner house, including installing a new foundation. The project was halted for almost 12 weeks when workers discovered Native American artifacts on site. The archaeological dig that followed unearthed hundreds more.
“The Tribal Indian Commission from Washington, D.C. directed and inspected those operations,” Tamagna said, adding that most of the collected artifacts are kept at West Point under the supervision of its archeologist, Paul Hudson.
The refurbished Warner house is outfitted with furniture and many everyday items used by the Warner sisters and their family during their time on the island.
Tamagna said visitors will be able to explore the island, its views and the Warner house on designated paths, but that some areas will be off-limits due to safety concerns. In addition, he said, walking to Constitution Island from Cold Spring is prohibited by Metro-North regulations. The road to the island lies within a few feet of the tracks.
The CIA is working with partners along the Hudson River, exploring the possibility of boat service to the island, said Tamagna. The organization is also looking for volunteers to participate in a range of activities, from serving as docents and gardeners on the island to administration, development and special events.
A virtual tour of Constitution Island and other information is available online at constitutionisland.org.
According to your article, the 280-acre Constitution Island was bequeathed by the Warner family to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. To clarify, it was a two-part real-estate transfer, not a bequest, and the island was given to the U.S. government, not West Point. Anna Warner sold Constitution Island to Margaret Olivia Sage in 1908 for $150,000 (about $5 million today). The next month, as she and Anna had agreed, Margaret offered the island to the U.S. as a donation. President Theodore Roosevelt promptly wrote to the two women, accepting their “very generous gift to the nation.” The deed was signed in May 1909. The Warner-Sage deed did not mention West Point. The Sage-U.S. deed referred to West Point in precatory language but did not name the military academy or the Army and did not mention either in the operative part of that deed — that is, the provisions under the heading “Now, Therefore.” Something else of interest: Anna Warner and Margaret Sage generously foresaw that Constitution Island could be made far more accessible to the public than it was, or would be, under military administration. That’s clear from a covenant in the Warner-Sage deed, incorporated by reference in the subsequent Sage-U.S. deed: “Nothing herein contained shall be deemed or construed to prevent the dedication or conveyance of the premises, or any part thereof, for the purpose of a State or National Park … This shall be a covenant running with the land.” Dunlap is the author of The… Read more »
Can we access the island without taking a tour? I used to enjoy just walking the road. [via Facebook]
Metro-North prohibits walking on the road next to its tracks. Transportation to the tours, which begin in August, will be provided.