NJ Monthly - October 2014

P H OT O S : M A R C S T E I N E R

Having grown up in Central Jersey, I’ve often ascribed geo- graphic stereotypes to the northern part of the state (dense, urban) and to the south (sparse, rural). When I moved to Hudson County, I was prepared to bid farewell to the active, outdoorsy life of my younger days. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my new Hoboken nest was mere miles from some of New Jersey’s most picturesque hiking— along the dramatic cliffs of Palisades Interstate Park.

“People are always telling us that they
never knew this place existed,” says Eric
Nelsen, a park historian. “But that’s not
by design. We want people to enjoy the
park, because it belongs to everybody.”
Indeed, you can find all sorts of peo-
ple on the trails: couples on day hikes
with newborns strapped to their backs;
wide-eyed Boy Scouts bounding along
with walking sticks; families and kids
picnicking below the cliffs; bird watch-
ers wielding cameras and binoculars;
couples gazing hand in hand across the
Hudson River to New York City.

Yet Palisades Interstate Park might never have happened were it not for a collaborative effort at the turn of the

20th century bet ween New Jersey and New York to preserve the dramatic sheer cliffs running along the western shore of the lower Hudson River.

Like their rocky counterparts in
western Africa, the cliffs are remnants
of the splitting of the supercontinent
Pangaea and the birth of the Atlantic
Ocean about 200 million years ago.
“It’s almost like having a baby photo
of North America,” says Nelsen. “The
cliffs are a piece of the creation of this
continent.”
But the Palisades were not always
revered as a public treasure. In the late
19th century, stone quarries in Fort Lee
blasted the ancient walls into gravel and
railroad ballast, tearing away at the cliffs.
“The park’s history is this really
interesting picture of two streams
running through American life,” says
Nelsen. “One stream striving to pre-