Park History

The history of human occupation at Clarence Fahnestock Memorial State Park and Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve spans over 8,000 years and encompasses three major periods in the development of the Hudson Valley. The first period lasted more than 4,000 years and is associated with the history of indigenous peoples of North America, especially during the Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Transitional, and Woodland Periods. Though not much is known about cultural activities during the Paleo-Indian period, it is generally accepted that the region encompassing the parks was first inhabited by humans at approximately 8,000 BC (Funk 1972, 1976; Ritchie 1980).

During this time, many Algonquin tribes or cultural groups occupied the broad expanse of territory that includes Manhattan, Long Island and the Hudson Valley. It wasn’t until the 1600s that European (primarily Dutch and English) Colonists and Native Americans began to interact and colonists purchased land from the Wappinger Indians. This continued and the Wappinger Indians continued to sell land to the colonists, but were greatly impacted by the presence of foreigners. The Wappinger were forced to relocate from lands they had occupied and the colonists introduced diseases to the Indians and many perished.

The Hudson Valley was an area of critical importance during the Revolutionary War for both the Americans and the British. According to the Scenic Area of Statewide Significance report, “The strategic value of the Hudson Highlands was the main reason for the development of the military facilities and its key role as a theater of battle during the Revolutionary War. The landscape offered natural opportunities for protection of the increasingly important commercial use of the Hudson River as a transportation corridor to the interior of the northeastern United States. Two major campaigns for control of the Hudson River were centered on the Hudson Highlands during the war.

The American Revolution and the immediate succeeding years provided a stimulus to settlement and trade in the Highlands. Gradually a pattern of rural activity was established, based around the expansion of the United States Military Academy at West Point, quarrying, shipbuilding and iron manufacturing. The lowlands alongside the Hudson proved viable for farming, and clearing of the landscape continued. Growth concentrated on the lower plains, associated with road connections and ferry crossings, while the uplands remained free of settlement. Cold Spring grew around the West Point Foundry into a thriving industrial village (NYSDOS).”

Small scale mining had been occurring in the area for decades prior to the 1818 establishment of the West Point Foundry. The presence of the foundry provided a demand for iron ore, charcoal to fuel its kilns, and better routes of transportation between the mines and Foundry. Much of the present Fahnestock State Park was cleared in the process and a system of roads and narrow railroads extended throughout the park toward Cold Spring. The Foundry flourished, played a major role in the Civil War, and finally closed in the early 1890s.

The deforested areas, having served their purpose, were typically sold or left to revert to woodland. Some were converted to agriculture and cleared again resulting in miles of stone walls. Large private holdings were assembled by families, including Fahnestock, Perkins, Osborn and Hubbard.

Closer to the Hudson River, the mixture of river landings, agriculture, and industries including brickyards, quarries and foundries, was dramatically altered by the extension of the Hudson River Railroad through Putnam and into Dutchess County in 1851. This changed almost the entire east shore of the river and created a severely limited number of opportunities to reach the river. It increased the speed of travel for passengers and goods, ended the dominance of river-based transportation, and accelerated the development of large estates along the river.

By the turn of the century, water supply also altered the land use of the future parks, with watershed areas and reservoirs established on Mt. Beacon, on the headwaters of the Peekskill Hollow Creek, and on the West Branch of the Croton River.

In 1925 the Taconic State Park Commission (TSPC) was established as part of a plan to create a Statewide system of parks and parkways connecting them in Putnam, Dutchess, Columbia and Rensselaer counties. The parkway was designed to pass through the middle of these counties, starting at a proposed extension of Westchester County’s Bronx River Parkway and extending north into the Highlands. The scenic valley of Roaring Brook, just north of Peekskill Hollow Creek, was selected for the ascent. The commission saw an opportunity to both preserve the brook and align the parkway on a 300 acre on a parcel being planned for use as a Boy Scout camp. The property was acquired in 1929 and was known briefly as Roaring Brook State Park. Planning for the remainder of the parkway alignment in Putnam County had identified parts of the 6,000+ acre Fahnestock property as the desirable location for the parkway. In 1930, negotiations between Commission Chairman Franklin Roosevelt and Ernest Fahnestock resulted in a gift of 2,400 acres in memory of Dr. Clarence Fahnestock, the donor’s brother, a surgeon who died in WW1. The Roaring Brook property became connected to the Fahnestock property by the parkway and both became known as Clarence Fahnestock Memorial Park.

Work on park improvements at Fahnestock began almost immediately and a few years later benefitted from the establishment of Civilian Conservation Corps camps in the park. The CCC program included the construction of dams at Pelton Pond, Stillwater and Canopus lakes, a downhill ski area, the camping area, Pelton Pond picnic area, comfort stations, shelters, roads, hiking and equestrian trails. The parkway was constructed under a series public works contracts and opened to Route 301 in 1935. The Canopus Beach complex and the Taconic Outdoor Education Center were constructed in the late 1970s. Fahnestock continued to expand and at 14,082 acres (in 2010), it is the largest park in the Taconic Region.

East of Fahnestock, the Highlands extending to the Hudson River had a similar history of land use with a greater occurrence of Native American occupation and use, and substantial hard-rock quarrying and numerous brickyards. The quarry activities had been successfully limited on the west shore and along the Palisades, but continued to expand near Mt. Taurus and Breakneck Mountain in Putnam County. The Hudson River Conservation Society facilitated the beginning of Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve through gifts of 177 acres on the face Breakneck from the Nelson & Whitney families in 1938. These remained as isolated holdings for nearly twenty years while other less rugged land was acquired and developed for public use elsewhere. Consolidated Edison’s proposal to build a pumped storage hydro-electric plant on Storm King Mountain in 1962, and a similar proposal by Central Hudson for land it had acquired along the Breakneck Brook, triggered the epic battle in Federal courts pitting scenic preservation against power generation in the Highlands. The Central Hudson proposal for the east bank was quickly withdrawn. In 1967 Governor Nelson Rockefeller announced the establishment of the park and with the financial assistance of the Jackson Hole Preserve the first 2,500 acres were quickly acquired. The park has expanded north and south along the eastern Highlands and consists of over 6,942 acres between Peekskill and Beacon.