The Palisades

The Palisades. . , For centuries, the PALISADES – ancient columns of igneous rock that rises hundreds of feet above the Hudson River – have inspired poets and painters with their loft grandeur. Here, quaint fishermen’s villages once dotted the shores below, while imposing estates came to occupy the heights above. , By the 1890s, however, the rugged beauty of the Palisades was threatened by massive stone quarries. These quarries used dynamite to blast the cliffs into gravel, to be sold for roadbeds and concrete. , The New Jersey Federation of Women’s Clubs led the fight to save the Palisades. In 1900, the governors of New York and New Jersey were able to sign bills creating the PALISADES INTERSTATE PARK COMMISSION. The Commission bought out the quarries, turning twelve miles of Palisades riverfront into a unique natural “playground.” Soon, though the Commission would have to turn its attention to the summit of the cliffs… , In the late 1920s, ground was broken for an automobile bridge to cross the Hudson River from Upper Manhattan to New Jersey. The Commissioners of the Palisades Interstate Park would have to act quickly to protect the top of the cliffs from the rapid development that was sure to follow. , The George Washington Bridge opened in October 1931. While the bridge was being built, John D. Rockefeller Jr. quietly bought up over 700 acres of the Palisades summit, including several cliff-top estates. , In 1933, Rockefeller donates the properties he has acquired to the Park Commission, with the provision that a “scenic driveway” be built to the Bear Mountain Bridge – and that all manmade structures visible from across the river be removed.