A Park for the Region. Over 60,000 cars now use the Parkway each day. During a conservation career that spanned nearly 40 years, he also served as Superintendent of Yosemite National Park, Vice President of the National Audubon Society, and Executive Director of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. Yet beyond even the great cliffs themselves, something vital persists: a promise made, a promise to be kept...”. A “demonstration mile” for the public opened in New Jersey in 1950. Demolition didn’t go quite as planned as only the top portion was destroyed, so the bottom half of the estate still rises discretely from the staggering landscape for admiration. We are part of more than 100,000 acres of parklands and historic sites in New York and New Jersey managed by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission. New Jersey's Palisades Interstate Park was created in 1900 to preserve the majestic Palisades of the Hudson River from being defaced by massive stone quarries. In 1971, both the Palisades Long Path and Shore Trail were designated as National Recreation Trails. Palisades Interstate Park was established in 1900. Under Welch's leadership, the Palisades Interstate Park grew from the initial 10,000-acre (40 km ) Bear Mountain State Park to the more than 40,000-acre (160 km ) Harriman State Park. The palatial property was then purchased in 1930 by J.D. Though it didn’t appease all opponents of the Parkway, a compromise of sorts was reached through the creation of Greenbrook Sanctuary. The trail steeply descends to the shore of Hudson River, and then lasts more than a mile over the Giant Stairs - a long section of huge boulders having tumbled from Palisades - before finally comes back up. Rising vertically from near the water’s edge, they are characterized by uplifts, faults, and columnar structure developed by slow cooling Among the twentieth-century arrivals to what was to become known as “Millionaire’s Row” were Dr. Ernest Cadgene, a French chemist who operated silk mills in Paterson, and who built his estate in Englewood Cliffs, near today’s Rockefeller Lookout; Manuel Rionda, “the Sugar Baron,” who owned sugarcane plantations in Cuba, and who built the sprawling “Rio Vista,” largest of the Palisades estates, its manor house where Alpine Lookout is today (the wrought iron fencing still along the cliff edge there is from Rio Vista); his nephew, Manuel E. Rionda, who would be mayor of Alpine, and who built “Glen Goin” (named for his wife, Ellen Goin) on the old Nordhoff estate; John and Mable Ringling, of circus fame, who built “Gray Crag” farther north in Alpine — before moving to an even grander estate in Sarasota; John Clawson and Cora Timken Burnett, a scientist and an artist — and heiress to the vast Timken fortune — who designed a bizarre and secluded estate on an isolated section of cliff top in Alpine; George A. Zabriskie, a flour merchant and amateur historian, who built a new and grander “Cliff Dale” (his summer home!) During a conservation career that spanned nearly 40 years, he also served as Superintendent of Yosemite National Park, Vice President of the National Audubon Society, and Executive Director of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. The Palisades Interstate Park Compact is an interstate compact between New Jersey and New York, and also carries congressional consent.The compact was designed to protect the Palisades of the Hudson River. Through much of the Great Depression of the 1930s, attendance at the park and its beaches soared, as millions took advantage of inexpensive recreation just a ferry ride from home. Palisades Interstate Park has been designated a Registered National Historic Landmark under the provisions of the Historic Sites Act of August 21, 1935 this site possesses exceptional value in commemorating and illustrating the History of the United States. The hikers had left the marked trail and proceeded to the location where they were unable to safely continue hiking. Ready for some activity? The Commission sought to continue and expand this kind of activity. Robert O. Binnewies was Executive Director of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission throughout the 1990s. New York and New Jersey came together to form the Palisades Interstate Park Commission nine years earlier, in 1900. Every effort is made to ensure that the information on these pages is accurate and up-to-date, but policies and conditions in the park can change without notice or at the Superintendent’s discretion. Looking for a great trail in Palisades Interstate Park, New Jersey? AllTrails has 9 great hiking trails, river trails, views trails and more, with hand-curated trail maps and driving directions as well as detailed reviews and photos from hikers, campers, and nature lovers like you. Here’s a joke, on us: How does the tree go on the internet? Long Path trailhead on Hudson Terrace in Fort Lee CLOSED for long-term construction project (Carpenter's Trail trailhead remains open). Stretching high above the Hudson River for a dozen or so miles, and featuring roughly 2,500 acres of rugged cliffs, scenic waterfront, and 200 million-year-old vertical columns of rock, Palisades Interstate Park is easily one of the New York City area’s most dramatic natural outdoor destinations. The park is maintained by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission which was formed in 1900 after the New York Federation of Women’s Clubs was successful in protecting the Palisades from being destroyed by the large stone quarries in operation at the time. Album page for the Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey, with images of the park as National Natural Landmark, as National Historic Landmark, and as seen by our visitors. They added modern amenities like city water and police protection. Overlooking the Hudson River in Bergen County, the Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey is about 12 miles long, a half-mile wide, and encompasses 2,500 acres of wild Hudson River shorefront, uplands, and cliffs. Sterling Forest’s 16,380 acres was permanently protected, officially signed into PIP property. The Palisades Interstate Park Commission was established in 1900 with an interstate compact signed by Theodore Roosevelt, then Governor of New York, and New Jersey Governor Foster M. Voorhees. Lumberjacks harvested the forests for firewood and building material, “pitching” logs to the river using natural chutes — “pitching places” — formed by crevasses in the cliffs. Major environmental victories were won when Minnewaska State Park and Sterling Forest were added to the park system. For over 100 years, the Palisades Interstate Park has provided a haven for citizens of the New York metropolitan area. Palisades Interstate Park has been designated a Registered National Historic Landmark under the provisions of the Historic Sites Act of August 21, 1935 this site possesses exceptional value in commemorating and illustrating the History of the United States. Fort Lee Historic Park is a 33-acre cliff-top park area with scenic overlooks, a reconstructed Revolutionary War encampment, and a Visitor Center. Rockefeller Jr., who donated the land to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission to preserve the area’s natural topography. The first concerted effort to preserve the Palisades, in the 1890s, had been led by the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, which was based in New York City. In the generations since its creation, it has served as an oasis of beauty, recreation, and tranquility in the midst of one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country. 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