Alpine in Bergen County, New Jersey — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Lower Closter or New Dock
Huyler’s Landing
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, November 10, 2019
1. Lower Closter or New Dock Marker (East Side of Marker)
Inscription.
Lower Closter or New Dock. Huyler’s Landing.
Lower Closter or New Dock. Here a British invasion force of 5,000 troops commanded by Lord Cornwallis landed before dawn on November 20, 1776. Guided by three Bergen County residents, Joseph Hawkins, Isaac Perkins, and John Aldington, they climbed the rough road to the top of the cliffs and marched south to capture Fort Lee. At sunrise, Lt. John Clifford of Heard’s Brigade, New Jersey State Troops, saw them, commandeered a horse, and alerted the garrison at Fort Lee. About 3,000 soldiers, led by Generals George Washington and Nathanael Greene, retreated over the Hackensack River at New Bridge on their route to the relative safety of Pennsylvania. This landing place was used in later raids and finally blocked with felled trees in 1780.
Sponsored by the Bergen County Historical Society, 2019, Huyler’s Landing. From colonial times, local farmers brought their harvests down a steep road they built through a natural break in the cliffs to the dock here for shipping to New York City markets. After Peter Huyler improved the road and dock about 1840, this place became known as Huyler’s Landing. Through the 1870s, a multiracial, multiethnic community of boatmen, ship-builders, fishermen, quarrymen, and their families lived and labored here. Sloops, steamboats, and smaller vessels transported people, firewood, farm goods, fish, and stone between Huyler’s Landing and ports along the Hudson. A few residents remained into the early twentieth century, after the Interstate Park Commission acquired the land.
Sponsored by the Bergen County Historical Society, 2019.
Lower Closter or New Dock
Here a British invasion force of 5,000 troops commanded by Lord Cornwallis landed before dawn on November 20, 1776. Guided by three Bergen County residents, Joseph Hawkins, Isaac Perkins, and John Aldington, they climbed the rough road to the top of the cliffs and marched south to capture Fort Lee. At sunrise, Lt. John Clifford of Heard’s Brigade, New Jersey State Troops, saw them, commandeered a horse, and alerted the garrison at Fort Lee. About 3,000 soldiers, led by Generals George Washington and Nathanael Greene, retreated over the Hackensack River at New Bridge on their route to the relative safety of Pennsylvania. This landing place was used in later raids and finally blocked with felled trees in 1780.
Sponsored by the Bergen County Historical Society, 2019
Huyler’s Landing
From colonial times, local farmers brought their harvests down a steep road they built through a natural break in the cliffs to the dock here for shipping to New York City markets. After Peter Huyler improved the road and dock about 1840, this place became known as Huyler’s Landing. Through the 1870s, a multiracial, multiethnic community of boatmen, ship-builders, fishermen, quarrymen, and their families lived and labored here. Sloops, steamboats, and smaller vessels transported people,
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firewood, farm goods, fish, and stone between Huyler’s Landing and ports along the Hudson. A few residents remained into the early twentieth century, after the Interstate Park Commission acquired the land.
Sponsored by the Bergen County Historical Society, 2019
Location. 40° 55.605′ N, 73° 55.5′ W. Marker is in Alpine, New Jersey, in Bergen County. Marker can be reached from Henry Hudson Drive, on the left when traveling south. Marker is located in the Palisades Interstate Park, at the intersection of the red blazed Huyler’s Landing Trail and the blue blazed Long Path. It is not accessible by car. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Alpine NJ 07620, United States of America. Touch for directions.
The trail used by the British Army in 1776, and later by the residents of Huyler's Landing can be seen behind the marker.
Credits. This page was last revised on November 10, 2019. It was originally submitted on November 10, 2019, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. This page has been viewed 565 times since then and 67 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on November 10, 2019, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey.
