Page 129 - Wish Stream Year of 2019

Part of the Mess Hall which in total can seat around 4,500 cadets
reside on campus and dine together en masse on weekdays for breakfast and lunch in a single massive mess hall. This is the Washington Hall, built in 1929 which, after later expansion, can seat around 4,500 at tables of 12 in its central hall and six adjoining wings. Cadets reside on campus for their entire four years in one of the nine barracks buildings. Most cadets are housed with one roommate, which they might keep for the entire four years, although not necessarily. Cadets have a host of extracurricular activities available, most run by the office of the Directo- rate of Cadet Activities.
Buildings and Facilities
The buildings at West Point give an impres- sion of massiveness and strength, due to their granite-faced Norman-Gothic style. But this harmonises well with the winding river and rug- ged hills that form their background. On enter- ing the West Point campus, but just outside of the secure perimeter, the very first building visitors see above them on the right overlooking the Hudson River is the massive Thayer Hotel, where we stayed the night before our visit. Pri- vately owned, but named in memory of Colonel
Sylvanus Thayer, it nevertheless pays a large part in West Point life, either accommodating guests of the Academy (particularly parents) or hosting cadet private functions. It also hosts reg- ular corporate leadership training courses. Built in a similar granite-faced Norman-Gothic style to the other West Point buildings, it opened in 1926, replacing the older West Point Hotel built in 1829 further north on the campus on Trophy Point, which had even more spectacular views of the Hudson.
Many of the current buildings were erected in 1964 and onwards when the total strength of the Academy was increased to 4,400 cadets. There are extensive academic buildings to house the thirteen academic departments, and their respective facilities, which are:
• Behavioural sciences & leadership
• Chemistry & life science
• Civil and mechanical engineering
• Electrical engineering & computer science • English & philosophy
• Foreign languages
• Geography & environmental engineering • History
• Law
• Mathematical sciences
• Physics & nuclear engineering
• Social sciences
• Systems engineering
There are also Military Instruction and Physical Education Departments.
Religious worship is encouraged, and provided for in the interdenominational Cadet Chapel for Protestant and Eastern Orthodox cadets (built in 1910 to replace the original Cadet Chapel built in 1836), and in the Catholic and Jewish chapels. There is also a cadet interfaith centre for Muslim
The Thayer Hotel Front Entrance (The Thayer Hotel)
Cadet Protestant Chapel
HISTORICAL 127