Palisades

Proposed National ParkNew Jersey and New York
The Palisades above the Hudson River in autumnPhotograph: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0
All proposed National ParksPalisadesNo active campaign
Location
New Jersey/New York
Current protection
Palisades Interstate Park
Status
No active campaign
Tier
Tier 3 · Smaller national site
In the book
Not featured in Undiscovered America

Why should it be a National Park?

Along the west bank of the Hudson, basalt cliffs rise hundreds of feet straight from the river for miles north of New York City, the first grand scenery most travelers ever saw entering the continent.

The campaign to save them from the quarries was one of the first great conservation fights in America. The cliffs deserve to be counted among the National Parks.

The history of National Park Campaigns

In the 1890s, quarries were dynamiting the Palisades for trap rock. Bills to create a National Park went to the 54th and 55th Congresses, each backed by a memorial of the New Jersey legislature, while the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs led the fight from 1895. In 1900 New York and New Jersey acted together, creating the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, which bought the cliffs with public money and gifts from J. P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller.

Distinct National Park attempts
2 (54th and 55th Congress bills)
Other designation attempts
1 (1900 interstate park)

Sources

  • Edmund B. Rogers, History of Legislation Relating to the National Park System Through the 82d Congress (NPS, 1958)
  • Palisades Interstate Park Commission, History
  • Wikipedia, List of proposed National Parks of the United States
Know of a campaign? Tell us
  1. 1895

    The New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs takes up the campaign against the quarries.

  2. 1895–1897

    S. 2861, H. 2187, and H.R. 9511 are introduced in the 54th Congress, with a New Jersey legislature memorial.

  3. 1897–1899

    S. 2920 and H.R. 5170 follow in the 55th Congress.

  4. 1900

    Governors Theodore Roosevelt and Foster Voorhees sign the act creating the Palisades Interstate Park Commission.

  5. 1909

    Palisades Interstate Park formally opens.