Palisades Park, NJ
Due to a rockslide, the 5-mile section of Henry Hudson Drive ("River Drive") from Dyckman Hill Road (entrance road to Englewood Boat Basin) to Alpine Approach Road (entrance road to Alpine Boat Basin) will be closed to automobile traffic pending repairs.
Dyckman Hill Road, Alpine Approach Road, and the southern section of the Drive (south of Englewood Boat Basin) will remain open during daylight hours, conditions permitting.
Information on the reopening of the roadway after repairs have been completed will be posted on our "Hours of Operation" page: http://www.njpalisades.org/hours.htm
The Palisades Park, NJ is headquartered just off Exit 2 of the Palisades Interstate Parkway . Built in the 1920s as a private residence, the beautiful stone building houses our Administrative and Police Departments, as well as our Police Court.
Built by the Henry Herbert Oltman family ca. 1928, the former estate known as "Penlyn" was taken over by the Park Commission in 1939. In 1956, our administrative offices were moved here, our former Administration Building having been demolished to make way for the Parkway that connects the George Washgtinon Bridge and the New Jersey section of the park with the New York section.
The "New Deal for the Palisades" video is now available on DVD. Copies are $12. You can purchase at Fort Lee Historic Park, Park Headquarters, the Kearney House, and State Line Lookout.
The following park areas are administered by this office.
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Allison Park
Allison Park is a small landscaped, scenic cliff-top park named for William O. Allison (1849-1924), who at one time had an estate at this location. Allison had been born in the "Undercliff" settlements, the son of fishermen and quarry workers. As a child he was made a ward of the Dana family, who owned a large estate on top of the cliffs. He succeeded in business and became one of the largest land owners along the Palisades, and was the principal owner of the Palisades Mountain House, also at this site, until it burned down in 1884.
He built his estate literally atop the ruins of the Mountain House and, ironically, it burned down as well, in 1903. He became the first mayor of Englewood Cliffs, and sold some riverfront property to the Carpenter Brothers for their quarry operation. This may have led, in part, to his becoming in his later years a staunch defender of the Palisades as a natural preserve. In his will, Allison left many acres of his holdings, including those at this site, in the public trust, as parkland.
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Alpine Area (Alpine Boat Basin/Blackledge-Kearney House)
The Alpine area is distinguished by a very scenic riverfront picnic area and marina, plus a beach for car-top boat launches (canoe / kayak). Eexcellent hiking trails and Henry Hudson Drive can be accessed from Alpine. The area also features an open-air stone picnic pavilion built in 1934 by the WPA (available for rental), as well as the Blackledge-Kearney House Museum.
This area was known throughout the 19th Century as "Closter Landing," "Upper Closter Landing," "the Closter Dock," or simply "Under the Closter Mountain." It was part of the settlement of fishing villages known as "Undercliff." Of the dozen or more houses at Closter Landing, only the Kearney house remains.
In the early part of the 20th Century, the Interstate Park operated a bathing beach here, and the stone picnic pavilion used to have lockers on the lower floor. Most bathers came on the Yonkers Ferry, which landed at the south end of the Alpine area. The ferry service was discontinued in 1956 after the completion of the Tappan Zee Bridge.
Listed on the National and State Registries of Historic Places as the "Blackledge-Kearney House" but known more familiarly as the "Kearney House" or "Cornwallis Headquarters", this humble structure is the oldest building in the New Jersey Section of the Palisades Interstate Park. The southern half of the house, made of native stone and timbers, dates to before 1802. The northern, wood-frame section was added in the 1840s, the large porch in the early 1900s. Through its long life, the house has served as a Hudson River homestead, a tavern, a park police station, a caretaker's residence, and finally a museum. Today, it helps bring to life two centuries in the story of the Hudson River and those who have depended upon it for their lives and livelihoods.
Suggested Hike: Cape Fly Away Loop
Length: 3.5 miles (round-trip distance)
Time: 2 hours
Parking: Alpine Boat Basin & Picnic Area
Description: This relatively short hike makes a great introduction to Palisades hiking for hikers of all ages.
Begin at the Kearney House at the north end of the Alpine Picnic Area. Head north up the white-blazed Shore Trail behind the Alpine Pavilion. This is the steepest section of your trip, but it soon levels off at the intersection with the orange-blazed Closter Dock Trail. Keep north on the wide Shore Trail, which was originally laid out as a road in the 1840s, called the Cape Road. You will cross a stone-railed bridge by a pretty waterfall, and you may notice a set of stone steps going uphill nearby: these led to a storage bunker for dynamite during the 1930s. You will get to a relatively cleared area with lilies and other non-native growth. This was known as Cape Fly Away, a small fisherman's hamlet in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A pair of stone stairways to old docks on the river frames the Cape Fly Away area, and these are interesting to explore (but be aware of poison ivy growth along the stairways, especially in summer).
About 1 mile in, the trail splits, and arrows painted on a rock will show that to the right, the Shore Trail goes downhill to the river; to the left, an unmarked but very wide and obvious trail is identified as the "Upper Trail," which continues on the same level you are on. Take the Upper Trail, realizing it will rejoin the Shore Trail in just under 1 mi. This is a pretty and easy section of trail, winding its way through a mature hardwood forest growing on the talus slope beneath the cliffs. You will pass through the Excelsior Flats picnic area along the way. (If you keep a sharp eye to the right, some distance after the picnic area you will find the foundation remains of a nineteenth-century "bone factory," where animal bones were ground into bone meal.) The Upper Trail will eventually descend to the river to rejoin the Shore Trail.
The more ambitious may want to follow the Shore Trail north about another 0.5 mi. to the cliff-face vistas that begin just beyond Bombay Hook, which will add close to an hour to this hike's round-trip time. Otherwise, begin your return south on the Shore Trail. You will in many instances be fewer than a hundred feet from your outbound route, but the change in habitat could not be more dramatic: the mature forest is replaced by a riot of sun-fueled growth along the shoreline (and beware of poison ivy, especially in summer). The trail is also much more narrow here and in places quite rocky. (At low tide, there is some good beach-combing south of the old jetty, called Twombly's Landing, you will pass not long after beginning your return trek.) Eventually, the trail will begin to climb uphill, to return to the split at the Upper Trail. At the base of this hill is a set of stairs leading out to the old Excelsior Dock; another set of stairs leads uphill to the Excelsior Flats picnic area (you can take this route if you'd like to, then return by heading south when you get to the Upper Trail).
For a trail information, open: Map
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Englewood Area (Englewood Boat Basin/Bloomers Beach)
A scenic riverfront picnic area and marina, plus beach for car-top boat launches (canoe/kayak), with access to our trail system and Henry Hudson Drive. A refreshment stand is open during the warm weather season.
This site was part of the "Undercliff" settlements, and the northern part of the Englewood Area is still called "Bloomers Beach," in recognition of the Bloomer family, who lived in the area throughout the 19th Century.
The Dyckman St. Ferry used to land at the southern end of the Area, until it was finally discontinued in the late 1930s due to stiff competition from the George Washington Bridge (opened in 1931). A swimming beach that operated at the Bloomers section was also closed around that time, due indirectly at least to the decline of funding for maintenance and supervision. The old stone bath house dates from 1934.
The ferry landing, in turn, was originally the site of a steamboat landing built by the owners of the Palisades Mountain House in the 1870s. The spectacular Dyckman Hill Road is also a descendent of that venture, though it was greatly improved upon in the early 20th Century.
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Ross Dock
A large scenic riverfront picnic area with access to Hazzard's Boat Ramp, our trail system, and Henry Hudson Drive.
This was the site of the Carpenter Brothers Quarry. The area is built on sunken barges and other landfill from the quarry period. During the early 20th century, Ross Dock was a summer camp for families from New York City.
Hazzard's Boat Ramp, a boat launching ramp for registered, trailered boats under 24', and for jet skis.
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State Line Lookout (Lookout Inn)
Situated on the highest point on the Palisades cliffs (el. 532 ft.), State Line commands unparalleled views of the Hudson and Westchester County (NY), and on to the Long Island Sound. It offers some of the best hiking in the New Jersey Section, and over five miles of cross country ski trails. The Lookout hosts an annual Fall Hawk Watch, as well as other programs through the year.
Lookout Inn, a snack bar and information center, provides a lunch and snack menu and a wide variety of books, gifts, and other items of interest. Built in 1937 by the WPA, the building looks like a miniature ski chalet, built of native stone and chestnut wood. The building plays host to special programs throughout the year, including our Fall Hawkwatch. The building and lookout point are wheelchair accessible.
Women's Federation Monument, (a short distance from State Line Lookout) a scenic park area and cliff-top monument was dedicated on April 30, 1929). It commemorates the role the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs played in preserving the Palisades.
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Waughaw Ridge
under construction
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