By 1914 it was estimated that more than a million people a year were coming to the park. Camping at Hessian Lake (and later at Lake Stahahe) was immensely popular the average stay was eight days and was a favorite for Boy Scouts. Steamboats alone brought more than 22,000 passengers to the park that year. Morgan.īear Mountain-Harriman State Park became a reality the following year when the prison was demolished and a dock built for steamboat excursion traffic. Perkins, with whom she had been working, raised another $1.5 million from a dozen wealthy contributors including John D.
Harriman died in September of that year, offered the state another 10,000 acres and one million dollars toward the creation of a state park. Mary Averell Harriman, whose husband, Union Pacific Railroad president E. Conservationists inspired by the work of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission lobbied successfully for the creation of the Highlands of the Hudson Forest Preserve, stopping the prison from being built. Work was begun in the area near Highland Lake (renamed Hessian Lake) and in January 1909, the state purchased the 740-acre Bear Mountain tract. In 1908, the State of New York announced plans to relocate Sing Sing Prison to Bear Mountain. Anthony Wayne’s attack of the British fort at Stony Point moved colonial troops to the west of Bear Mountain. In 1777 British troops routed Patriots at Fort Montgomery. It’s sometimes too popular the state occasionally shuts the park down to control crowds during the warmer months.ĭuring the American Revolution, when control of the Hudson River was viewed by the British as essential to dominating the American territories, the area that was to become the park saw several significant military engagements. Bear Mountain is accessible by car and bus and is a popular day use park. One of the most visited parks in the Northeast, Bear Mountain hosts more than 3 million annual visitors. Bear Mountain State Park is a separate entity from the adjacent Harriman State Park which runs along the western edge of the park, but are managed as a single unit.īear Mountain State Park is 45 miles north of New York City in the Hudson Highlands. Fort Montgomery is adjacent to the north edge of the park while Iona Island Bird Sanctuary is on the eastern edge on the Hudson River. The park includes Bear Mountain as well as Dunderberg Mountain and West Mountain. Perkins Memorial Drive and Tower are open from April through late November, weather permitting. A scenic drive to the top of the mountain, along Perkins Memorial Drive, is a very popular destination in the park for tourists and sightseers. The Perkins Memorial Tower at the summit of Bear Mountain gives visitors spectacular views of the park, the Hudson Highlands and the rolling hills of Harriman State Park. The 5,205-acre Bear Mountain State Park is situated in rugged mountains rising from the west bank of the Hudson River. Trailhead parking: Perkins Memorial Drive, Stony Point, NY 10980 – total elevation gain approximately 494 ft.īuy Maps (Paper & Avenza): Harriman-Bear Mountain Trails Map #119įree Bear Mountain Summit Trail Map: Bear Mountain Hikes, NYįree Bear Mountain Summit Avenza Map: Bear Mountain Hikes, NYįree Web Map: Bear Mountain State Park Trail Map 2019įree Avenza App Map: Bear Mountain State Park Trail Map 2019 And more money will need to be spend to maintain a park that is essentially passive, with little income stream.Max elevation: 1,289 ft. I wonder if there’s a fear that if more people know about Harriman, more will use Harriman. It’s so close to the humongous population of New York, but in some ways so undiscovered. I wonder, though, if the parks are playing a longer game with Harriman.
And compared to some of the larger, more expensive park projects like repaving the Palisades Parkway and the engineering studies and repairs to low level outlets for some of Harriman’s dams, I’d think a parking sign project would be relatively inexpensive. It would be a nice touch (not to mention fair) to put signs up at all legal parking areas in Harriman State Park - not just the ones that get all the traffic. If you don’t mind the distraction of a man-made sign, why not post a sign where parking is legal is Harriman State Park? These markers are along the 17 trails in Bear Mountain.
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