The location of the Chapel makes it visible from many places on the Post. In walking around the grounds, every once in a while an extraordinarily effective view of the fine building strikes the beholder. Each glimpse seems more beautiful than the previous one, and a general impression remains that the Chapel holds a spiritual dominion over the institution. Every corner of the main part of West Point seems under its influence. This feeling is particularly strong as we stand on the sidewalk between the old and new Cadet Barracks and gaze at this monumental pile of ethereal beauty that seems to lose itself in the sky. I never view the Chapel from this point without thinking of one of Maxfield Parrish’s imaginative paintings of the Arabian Nights.
In the southwest angle of the Plain, from where I like to view the Chapel, is a white granite statue of Major Sylvanus Thayer, class of 1808. The funds for this modest but beautiful monument, which was unveiled June 11, 1883, were contributed by loyal graduates of the Academy and by loving friends. General Thayer was Superintendent of the Academy from 1817 to 1833. He was the first to establish a real curriculum, and so valuable were his services that he has since been called “the Father of the Academy.” The body of the distinguished officer was brought from South Braintree, Mass., and reinterred in the Post cemetery on November 8, 1877. The sculptor of the monument was Carl Conrad.
On the west side of the Plain is the North Cadet Barracks, one of the new buildings completed in 1908. The Gothic style employed in the treatment of this building, while resembling somewhat that of the old barracks, has more dignity, beauty, and grace. Not enough difference exists between the two to cause any lack of harmony. Chief among the changes made in the new barracks are the windows which are triple instead of single. As far as the interior is concerned the arrangement is identical. Modern plumbing has been installed in the old barracks to conform to its new neighbor, so that the cadets of today are no longer obliged to run down to the area to draw their water from the hydrant. The very mention of this ancient and picturesque custom brings back many memories, chiefly centered around reveille on a bitterly cold morning. Immediately upon the dismissal of the ranks, hordes of cadets (it seemed to me), clustered around one poor little hydrant from which a thin stream of icy water trickled into the papier maché buckets. Now, upon each floor of barracks are faucets with hot and cold water! I wish that I were a cadet again!
No one would judge the building to be a military barracks. Rather, a study of its lines would suggest that it was the home of some religious order. It has an undeniable ecclesiastical character that impresses one immediately. I have always derived great pleasure in contemplating its beauty and my imagination at these times fancies it as the refuge, the shelter, the sanctuary of a body of men separated from the material affairs of the world. It seems made to house only the best and noblest in nature, to be the environment from which high ideals receive their greatest inspiration. A group of happy smiling cadets coming out of their rooms at this moment tells me that my imagination has been dwelling upon reality and not wandering into fantastic fields. This building is indeed the home of a splendid Order, the inspiring order of young manhood, clean-minded and honorable, trained in a school where they are taught the most scrupulous regard for the truth, and where they are given a mens sana in corpore sano.
In the quadrangle the light brick facing gives, in all sorts of weather, a bright cheerful aspect, a sunny appearance, that contrasts in a most welcome manner with the gloom of the quadrangle of the old barracks.
Set well back from the Plain, and to the north of the new barracks, is the Gymnasium. It is not built of granite like its neighbor, the new barracks, but has received from the hands of the architect an artistic and interesting treatment of brick and limestone. The broad wall-like surface of the front is broken by six flat buttresses, whose terminals are richly decorated. Viewing the building from the southeast corner these buttresses appear like giant sentinels, fine specimens of the building’s physical development. Far across the parade ground the Bachelor Officers’ quarters, of similar design, serves with the Gymnasium to link in one harmonious whole the old and new buildings surrounding the Plain.
The second story is devoted to the gymnasium proper. It is lighted by large skylights, and equipped with every possible device for physical development. The remainder of the building houses a fine natatorium, 77 feet wide and 92 feet long, with a swimming-pool 40 feet wide and 80 feet long; a fencing-room, a boxing-room, a wrestling-room, besides the necessary dressing-rooms for both cadets and officers. In the basement is a shooting gallery for indoor rifle and pistol practice.
North of the Gymnasium and fronting the Plain, are the quarters of the Superintendent of the Academy, an interesting old house that dates from 1820. Surrounding the house is a quaint old ironwork porch of later date, but old enough to be a curiosity today. A well-proportioned central hall gives access to charming suites of spacious rooms on both sides of the quarters, but the suite on the left is the more beautiful for it offers a fascinating vista of three large rooms terminating in a conservatory filled with exotic plants. Delightful hospitality has been dispensed in these rooms to some of the most noted people in the world. Royalty, distinguished foreigners, civilians, and soldiers, noted American men and women are constantly visiting West Point to inspect the school and are always entertained by the Superintendent. If the walls of these quarters could speak they would relate some interesting incidents of the official life of West Point. The beauty of the rooms is today enhanced by a number of fine family portraits, painted by Thomas Sully, and the property of the present Superintendent, Colonel John Biddle, Corps of Engineers.
At any official function the guests usually crowd the fascinating old porch to watch the evolutions of the cadets upon the Plain opposite, or sometimes they indulgently stand on the front stone steps to pose for the breathlessly impatient movie men and photographers. The quarters are surrounded by beautiful, well-kept lawns and tall graceful elm trees.
A traveler may go far before he will behold so majestic a view as that of the Hudson River from Trophy Point and Battle Monument. For pure beauty it is unsurpassed. In the distance lies the city of Newburg, against a dim background of the Shawangunk Mountains, and in the foreground the little village of Coldspring nestles close to the side of rugged Breakneck. On the opposite side Cro’s Nest descends abruptly to the water. At this spot the Hudson seems to be surrounded on all sides by land so that the beholder might well imagine himself in Europe among the Italian Lakes.