Local History Comes Alive for Mount Students

NEWBURGH – Mount Saint Mary College students enjoy immersing themselves in local history.

Raquel Rodriguez of North Baldwin, N.Y. recently visited Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site in Newburgh, N.Y. She marveled at the Hasbrouck house where Gen. George Washington lived and worked during some of the most critical months of the Revolutionary War.

Alanna Curran of Goshen, N.Y. headed to the West Point Museum and enjoyed learning more about the Civil War – including seeing the military uniforms close up.

Rodriguez and Curran visited the sites through courses taught by John T. Reilly, a longtime professor of History at the Mount. A faculty member since 1975, Reilly has served the college for four decades. He is the second longest-serving professor after James Finn Cotter, professor of English.

In the mid-1970s, there were only two History professors at the college, and Reilly taught nearly all available courses in the field. Reilly helped to build the program to include five full-time professors in its current incarnation.