| Hudson Highlands State Park | |
|---|---|
 View south fromBreakneck Ridge | |
  Location of park within New York | |
| Location | Hudson Valley,New York,United States |
| Coordinates | 41°27′31″N73°57′35″W / 41.45861°N 73.95972°W /41.45861; -73.95972 |
| Area | 11.98 sq mi (31.0 km2) |
| Elevation | 1,260 ft (380 m) |
| Named for | Location inHudson Highlands |
| Visitors | 224,015 (in 2014[1]) |
| Operator | New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation |
| Website | Hudson Highlands State Park |
Hudson Highlands State Park is a non-contiguousstate park in the U.S. state ofNew York, located on the east side of theHudson River. The park runs fromPeekskill inWestchester County, throughPutnam County, toBeacon inDutchess County, in the eastern section of theHudson Highlands.
The park's lands, heavily mined,logged andquarried in the past, were assembled over the mid-20th century from different purchases by the state, totaling 8,900 acres (36.02 km2; 13.91 sq mi) as of 2025.[2] They range from riversidesalt marshes to mountain summits, including the highest in the Highlands, the 1,610-foot (490 m) south summit ofBeacon Mountain.[3] It is managed by theNew York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYSOPRHP) from offices atFahnestock State Park to the east. Its parcels adjoin others owned by other public agencies and private preserves, some of which are managed by NYSOPRHP as well and are open to the public.
Due to its panoramic views of the river and mountains, and easy access by both automobile and rail, it has become a very popular destination forday hikes. The park's best knowntrail makes a steep, rocky ascent upBreakneck Ridge. Other trails climb neighboringBull Hill and follow the cliffs ofAnthony's Nose. TheAppalachian Trail (AT) also goes through the southeast corner of the park.
The park is composed of four separate tracts of land, two of which are contiguous, reflecting its piecemeal acquisition. The southernmost section begins just north ofPeekskill, abutting theNew York National Guard'sCamp Smith, following the Bear Mountain Highway (US 6 and202) around the lower slopes ofAnthony's Nose. InPutnam County, it serves as the AT's corridor along the north of the mountain and onCanada Hill. In the land aboveManitoga, the former estate of industrial designerRussel Wright, the AT interconnects with its trail system and follows the border with another parcel known as the Osborn Preserve, formerly part of Wing & Wing, the estate of 19th-centuryIllinois Central railroad presidentWilliam Osborn.[4]
The AT leaves the state park for aNational Park Service-owned corridor here, and the other trails provide access toSugarloaf Hill, whose 760-foot (230 m) summit looks across the river at the village ofHighland Falls and theUnited States Military Academy atWest Point. Here, nearGarrison, the southern parcels end.[4]
North of the villages ofCold Spring andNelsonville is the central and largest section. Starting at the Little Stony Point area along the river, which is separated from the rest of the parcel by theeasement for theNew York City water supply system'sCatskill Aqueduct, this section contains Bull Hill and Breakneck Ridge, withBreakneck Brook between them, then sprawls intoDutchess County, where it includesPollepel Island,Sugarloaf Mountain, the south summit ofBeacon Mountain andBeacon Reservoir, reaching its northern terminus at the Dry Brooktrailhead at the end of Pocket Road in the city ofBeacon. It is complemented byStorm King State Park across the river.
TheFishkill Ridge Conservation Area, owned by the environmental organizationScenic Hudson but managed by NYSOPRHP, bridges the gap between that central tract and the northern tract, a trail-less parcel onSour Mountain at the Highlands' northern end, reaching almost toInterstate 84 at the bottom of the slope.[5]
Also in Beacon is the 66-acre (27 ha) Denning Point parcel. This small woodedpromontory is located whereFishkill Creek drains into the Hudson.[6]
SwedishbotanistPehr Kalm sailed up the Hudson in 1749 and wrote one of the earliest accounts of the eastern Highlands:
Eastward a high chain of mountains whose sides were covered with woods up to no more than half their height. The summits, however, were quite barren, for I suppose nothing would grow there on account of the great degree of heat, dryness, and the violence of the wind to which that part was exposed.[7]
Kalm landed in the area and wrote the first scientific description ofmountain laurel, a plant species still abundant in the area.[7]
For most of American history, the Highlands were harvested for their natural resources, particularly mineral.Iron andcopper were mined from them. Some of the former was used to makecannons by theContinental Army during theRevolutionary War, and theWest Point Foundry in Cold Spring continued making them under the direction ofRobert Parrott through the late 19th century.Quarries were also carved out of the slopes, most notably on Breakneck Ridge and Bull Hill.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the eastern Highlands had been mostly tapped out as an easy source of minerals and werereforesting. Early hikers began to explore them, following the abandoned paths and roads from the earlier extractions. One, William T. Howell, catalogued their history and lore. In 1910, he pleaded for the land to be left alone and preserved in near-wilderness condition as summer vacationers started to head north looking for green spaces:
There is but one perfect solution as to the preservation of the Highlands, though I know in my heart that it will never be realized. That is, to leave them alone. By that I mean, keep out all foreign influences. That means more than quarries and manufacturies. It means hotels and parking projects, and even ... roads and easy paths. There is something more at stake here than the preservation of the scenery ... There is a wild charm and isolation about the Highlands that will fly forever when the "improvements" begin to come in.[8]
As New York began creating its first state parks in the Hudson Valley Region during the 1910s and 20s, it concentrated its efforts on larger tracts it had acquired such asHarriman andBear Mountain to the southwest and Fahnestock to the east. Much of the present Hudson Highlands State Park was either part of largeestates or owned by commercial interests seeking to exploit their mineral resources. An organization called the Hudson River Conservation Society (HRCS) worked to preserve the lands by persuading owners to donate them to the state or include clauses indeeds that forbade or greatly restricting quarrying and mining operations on the property.[9]
In 1938 the society made its first significant accomplishment when it persuaded Rosalie Loew Whitney to give the stateConservation Department 177 acres (72 ha) on the northwest face of Breakneck Ridge from the estate of Thomas Nelson, the local landowner from whom Nelsonville took its name. The next year, an appeal to save Anthony's Nose raised enough money to purchase 200 acres (81 ha) of its northern slope.[9]
No more major land acquisitions took place until the 1960s, when theState Council of Parks, forerunner of NYSOPRHP, formed the temporary Hudson River Valley Study Committee to develop a comprehensive plan in response to increasing industrial interest in the area, exemplified byConsolidated Edison's proposal to excavate a large chunk ofStorm King Mountain, across from Breakneck, for ahydroelectric plant, which would have involved runningpower lines across the river and into the eastern Highlands. In 1967 the state acquired the Little Stony Point property to prevent its development.[9]
The park finally began to come together towards its present form in the next few years, as theRockefeller family's Jackson Hole Preservefoundation gave New York adeed of trust for land purchases in the Hudson Highlands. Approximately 2,500 acres (1,000 ha) were acquired this way, primarily in the large central parcel of the park along the Dutchess-Putnam county line. In 1974 William Henry Osborn II, a past HRCS president, donated the 1,033-acre (418 ha) preserve that bears his family name to the state. Scenic Hudson acquired the 923-acre (374 ha) Fishkill Ridge Conservation Area in 1992 with assistance from theLila Acheson andDeWitt Wallace Fund for the Hudson Highlands.[10]
The north end of the park became the center of a local controversy in the late 1990s. It is home to aden of Easterntimber rattlesnakes, a New York Statethreatened species. The state'sDepartment of Environmental Conservation brought suit to stop the snake-proof fences a local quarry operator had put up while it was applying for permission to mine stone from the operation. In 1999 then-Attorney GeneralEliot Spitzer persuaded a court to order the fence be torn down.[11] It survived appeal, and became a legalprecedent establishing New York's right to enforce the state's Endangered Species Act on private property.[12]
The park's plants and animals are part of theNortheastern coastal forestsecoregion.[13]Its variety ofbiomes – ranging frombrackish tidal marsh andmudflats along the river's edge topitch pine-oak-heath rocky summit forest and rockygrasslands at higher elevations – contribute to itsbiodiversity. The mountain slopes are dominated byoak hickory andchestnut oak forests.[14]
Besides rattlesnakes, the park also supports some other state-listed threatened species, such as thebald eagle andleast bittern. Three of New York's five knowneastern fence lizard communities are found in Hudson Highlands State Park, near the northern end of itsrange.[15]
The park is open during daylight hours year-round. It is used mainly for passive recreation, mostlyhiking, but alsobirding. Limitedhunting is allowed:bowhunters make takedeer during thatseason in the late fall, andshotguns may be used during springturkey season. Some areas near the riverside are accessible bykayak, and there is a state-owned launch for them off the Annsville Circle, whereUS 9 meets routes 6 and 202, north of Peekskill.Camping and open fires are prohibited, as are vehicles of any kind, and there are no designated campsites or shelters in the park.[16]
Pollepel Island, while accessible by water a short distance from the east bank of the river, is the only area of the park to which access is restricted. It and the ruins of Bannerman's Castle, listed on theNational Register of Historic Places, can only be visited by making advance arrangements through NYSOPRHP for a guided tour.[16]
The park is most frequently entered from its western side.NY 9D runs near or along its boundaries, particularly between Cold Spring and Breakneck Ridge, and two of its majortrailheads are along that section at Little Stony and Breakneck points. The Osborn Preserve and Anthony's Nose sections have trailheads along the Bear Mountain Highway and at the Appalachian Trail crossing at South Mountain Pass Road south of Canada Hill. The AT's junction with US 9 andNY 403 allows access from the east. In Garrison it is also possible to use the trails from Manitoga and the Castle Rock Unique Area to reach the park parcels on the ridgetops.[4][5]
The Fishkill Ridge areas and Mount Beacon are commonly climbed from the east either by following the Fishkill Ridge trail from its northern terminus at Pocket Road in Beacon. From the west, they can be reached from theWilkinson Memorial Trail on Old Albany Post Road North just south of the county line along US 9.[5]
Hikers coming from the south also have the option of taking the train to the trails from as far away asGrand Central Terminal inmidtown Manhattan.Metro-North Railroad'sHudson Line parallels NY 9D and the east bank of the river, whererequest stops have been built atBreakneck Ridge andManitou, south of Garrison along the river. The former is a short distance from the trailhead and parking lot; the latter is at river's edge, requiring a short climb up to the Manitoga and Canada Hill areas. Service to those stations is weekends-only, with northbound trains making stops in the mornings and southbound ones taking returning hikers in the evening. At other times hikers can use theCold Spring station, with regularly scheduled trains.[17]
The trails of the park are maintained by volunteers from theNew York-New Jersey Trail Conference, which also publishes detailed maps. Some follow, in whole or part, old woods roads left over from the quarrying and mining operations; at other times they climb the steep and rocky peaks directly. They areblazed with NYSOPRHP plastic disks, except for the Appalachian Trail which uses white paint blazes.
Many take advantage of the ridgetop topography and thinly wooded summits to offer panoramic viewpoints over the river and region.
Some of the longer and more frequently-hiked trails in the park are:
South Beacon Mountain. Marked by its abandoned fire tower, this is the highest summit of the Hudson Highlands.
Basically, Sour Mountain Realty put up a snake fence on its Fishkill Ridge rock mine property to prevent rattlesnakes from gliding onto the land – land targeted for dynamite-aided quarry expansion. In the first real legal test of the New York Endangered Species Act in more than two decades, two courts in 1999 and 2000 upheld the state Department of Environmental Conservation's right to impose the Act on private property. And the judges held that state law was based in sound habitat protection biology.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)There are only five existing populations of fence lizard in New York, making this the rarest of New York's three lizard species. All of these populations are within state parks and three are in Hudson Highlands State Park. Fence lizards are at the northern extent of their range in New York and are listed as state threatened.
