Nyack Beach State Park great for all seasons - 16 April, 2008

Jane McManus
The Journal News

UPPER NYACK - Charlotte Buck stood above the rocky Hudson River shoreline, looking for small creatures where the water meets the stones at Nyack Beach State Park. The Nyack Middle School student was looking for arthropods, which are to be the subject of an upcoming science class.

The 13-year-old has been coming here as long as she can remember, since that's how long her family has lived in Upper Nyack. Her mother, Sharon Quayle, said they take advantage of every season at the 61-acre park, biking in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter.

"It's just great to be on the river," Quayle said.

In fact, Buck can remember when one of her friends set up a birthday cookout at the picnic table on the riverside trail that leads from the parking lot. It was a pretty long time ago, when she was just 11.

"We've been coming here for a long time," Buck said.

Forget the mall, Nyack Beach State Park offers simpler diversions at a much lower price. On any given day, joggers and dogwalkers, sailors and scullers might enjoy the land and water here. The Tappan Zee Bridge is in the background, as the full strength of the Hudson River can be appreciated.

But this park is much older than the bridge. At the turn of the century, the Hook Mountain corridor was a series of quarries, mining a brittle rock for use in the foundations of a rapidly growing New York City. Wealthy industrialists across the Hudson noticed that the views they had of Rockland County were being marred, as the bare rockface replaced vegetation with the operation.

(Palisades Interstate Park Commission was established by the governors of New York and New Jersey to purchase and maintain the quarries.) -- (section corrected by PIPC Web site)

"It's a magnificent story," PIPC development specialist Tim Englert said. "But the more I look into it, it's not just the generosity of the wealthy, but ordinary people who have volunteered their time or given land."

Nyack Beach State Park was one of the gems in the system, and steamers would relay passengers from the city to swim, play horseshoes, walk along the 3.2-mile earthen path or on a pier. Along the walks, there were picnic areas, shelters and ballfields - Englert said you can still find some of the remnants today.

During the Depression, public-works projects built the community building, which now houses restrooms and rowing equipment belonging to the River Rowing Association. Inside, the remains of a great ballroom, complete with a balcony, can still be seen.

"The seawall at Nyack Beach State Park was in danger of collapsing in a lot of places," Englert said. The PIPC got emergency funds to repair the wall and secure the path." -- (section corrected by PIPC Web Site)

It's the same path that Sean O'Neill took his chocolate lab, Sam, down on a recent afternoon. The Pearl River man said that this was the perfect time to visit the park, before the crowds of summer fill up the parking lot every day.

"Sometimes I take my mountain bike and I have him running after me," O'Neill said.

Rick Satawa of Valley Cottage often comes by himself, to walk or take his bike. He loves that it's one of the few places you can walk along the water without being blocked by train tracks.

"It's along the water, and the bridge is right there," Satawa said. "The peace and serenity of it all."

PHOTO CREDIT: Peter Carr/The Journal News

Jean Ujifusa, left, Kara Conway and her son Rowan walk on the river path at Nyack Beach State Park on Thursday.

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