2021 Bicycle-Kayak Tour
Newport to Yorktown -- Aug 14-20
| Links to Days
Aug 3: DE --Publicity and Funding Aug 14: RI -- Newport Aug 15: RI -- Providence Aug 16: CT -- Hartford Aug 17: CT -- Waterbury Aug 18: NY -- Hartsdale Aug 19: NY -- Stoney Point Aug 20: NJ -- Morristown Aug 21-27 Aug 28-31 [*] Well-illustrated schedule for all 17 days |
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Aug 3 -- Wilmington DE
The W3R®-US has created a brand-new logo tee shirt to honor and to support the 240th Anniversary Tribute Tour cyclist riding from Newport, Rhode Island, to Yorktown, Virginia, this month. The W3R®-DE has an assortment of sizes. The price is $15.00 each, with income supporting this W3R® national trailwide project. The W3R®-DE is providing free tee shirts for the "Youth Biker" participants, who will ride around the Village with Sal, the Cyclist, on August 22 at Brandywine Village Plaza. If you join the W3R®-US and/or W3R®-US ($20) you will get a complimentary a tee shirt. If you donate $50 or more you will receive a complimentary tee shirt. Order Form |
Delaware photos courtesy of Bill Conley
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August 13 -- RE: BIKE AND KAYAK TOUR: THANK YOU!
With less than 24 hours until the Washington-Rochambeau Bike and Kayak Tour’s launch, I just wanted to thank everyone from W3R®-US and WARO for ALL your hard work, expertise and dedication! The Greenwich Time, one of Connecticut’s local newspapers, carried an article about the experiential learning trip. Ingrid Wood sent out MANY Press Releases throughout the State, and I am extremely grateful. Looking forward to the trip! --- Sal Lilienthal |
At 9 AM Sal and Jeff laid a wreath at the waterfront Rochambeau statue.
After a musket salute by the Artillery Company of Newport, Sal paddled off.
After a 15-mile kayak paddle Sal landed at Independence Park in Bristol
and started off on a 15-mile bicycle pedal to Providence RI.
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August 15 -- from Providence RI
Sals ride of 83 miles began at 8 AM at University Hall on the Providence campus of Brown University. |
The building was used by the French as a military hospital.
Next stop was the Waterman Tavern in Coventry RI.
The French troops camped across the street on their first night after leaving Providence
At the Samuel Huntington Birthplace in Scotland CT,
a wheel broke on Rochambeau's carriage.
Sal is holding a wheel from his bicycle to commemorate the incident.
While traveling to conferences with Washington and his staff
Rochambeau stopped three times at White's Tavern in Andover CT
Sal's final stop was the Old State House in Hartford CT.
This stands on the site of an early meeting between Washington and Rochambeau.
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August 16 -- from Hartford CT
Sal began today's relatively short (27-mile) trek in downtown Hartford |
at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art ,
the site of the home of Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth,
where Washington and Rochambeau met in September 1780.
The next stop was French Hill in Marion CT, where Rochambeau's troops
camped in June 1781 and (on the return north) in November 1782.
Just down the street is the Asa Barns (later spelled Barnes) Tavern ,
where Rochambeau stayed during the encampment at Hartford.
The last stop was the East Farms Cemetery, where two French soldiers
were buried after they died of injuries when a piece of artillery fell on them.
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August 17 -- from Waterbury CT
The morning stated with a ceremony at East Farms Cemetery (see photo in Aug 16) |
Flags on East Main Street in Waterbury marked the entrance.
Flags and a wreath decorated the burial site.
Sal opened a ceremony with brief remarks
followed by a musket salute by re-enactors of the Connecticut Branch
of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR)
Before riding off, Sal posed with some re-enactors
and spoke with Alex of Fox61 television
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Sal then bicycled 73 miles to Hartsdale NY and the Odell House,
where Rochambeau stayed for several weeks before the rapid march south.
TROUBLE: Meanwhile, Jeff was having problems with the van's brakes. The local repair shop could not make the repairs in one day. Sal's father graciously saved the day (and the tour) by arranging for a rental van. MANY THANKS TO THIS FRIEND IN TIME OF NEED. THIS WAS THE SPIRIT OF FRENCH AID IN 1775-1783. Jeff caught up with Sal at Hartsdale NY. |
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August 18 -- from Hartsdale NY
This was a 33-mile bicycle pedal with a 1.5-mile kayak paddle across the Hudson River to Stony Point NY and its battle site. |
Sal departed from the Odell House
and traveled north to Yorktown Heights for a noon ceremony (Jeff is at left)
at the Pines Bridge Memorial honoring the First Rhode Island Regiment,
which was overwhelmed by Loyalist forces, with many casualties on May 14, 1781.
The re-enactor with the anchor on his hat (back line, towards right)
portrays the First Rhode Island Regiment.
Sal then left for Verplanck, where Cortlandt Supervisor Linda Puglisi
honored the 240th Anniversary Tour participants with a proclamation.
followed by a musket salute by the re-enactors.
Sal then got into his kayak and -- accompanied by the Verplanck Fire District's marine unit
(bearing some re-enactors -- paddled four miles across the Hudson River at the King's Ferry,
where the French army crossed in 1781 to reach Stony Point and to march south.
Sal landed in West Haverstraw, where Janet Lee Burnet, chair of W3R®-NY,
welcomed participants to a reception at the Hudson Water Club.
Veteran county Legislator Harriet Cornell read a proclamation
from the Rockland County Legislature.
The reception included Eliza and Erik Lichack's rendition of
"Ye Sons of Mars Attend," celebrating the birth of the Dauphin
(son of French King Louis XVI), on October 22, 1781.
King Louis XVI sent monetary and military assistance to the U.S.,
including General Rochambeau and his 5,000 soldiers.
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August 19 -- from Stony Point NY
Today was a late start because there were no schedule ceremonies and only 50 miles to ride. |
Sal left the entrance to the Stony Point Battlefield in New York at 11:20 AM.
He crossed into New Jersey at Mahwah a little over an hour later.
A marker at a Montville intersection noted that Washington's troops
had camped in the area and that a nearby bridge
was a key transportation link during the Revolutionary War.
Sal was happy to arrive at the Ford Mansion / Washington's Headquarters in Morristown.
So was Jeff -- borrowing the bicycle just for the photo op.
A magnificent statue of Washington stands across the street from the headquarters.
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August 20 -- from Morristown NJ
Sal returned to the Ford Mansion / Washington's Headquarters in Morristown NJ for an 8 AM ceremony. |
Tom Ross, superintendent of Morristown National Historical Park,
(with U.S. and French flags) and his staff welcomed Sal and Jeff
Re-enactors provided a two-musket salute.
The next stop was an 11 AM ceremony at the Van Veghten House, built in 1720.
Julie Diddell, national vice chair of W3R®-US and chair of W3R®-NJ,
welcomed Sal and led the second ceremony she organized today.
Mike Russell, president of the Princeton Battlefield Society, Julie Diddell,
Roger Williams, chair of the national SAR America 250 Comm.,
and Princeton town officials with Sal.
The deep-relief monument includes the figure of General Washington
at the Battle of Princeton, where he rallied Continental troops
to win the day on January 3, 1777, and bolster American morale.
The day ended with a reception and dinner at the historic Nassau Inn in Princeton.
