Cliff Notes
Visitors’ Letter for the NJ Section
of the Palisades Interstate Park
Information on this page current as of June 28, 2010Begun in June 1998, every other month (monthly before July–August 1999) Cliff Notes has featured one or more stories about life—both human and wild—on the Palisades, as well as a listing of upcoming events and programs. Cliff Notes is edited by the staff of the Kearney House.
Printed copies of the most recent issue of Cliff Notes are always placed at Fort Lee Historic Park, Park Headquarters, the Kearney House, and State Line Lookout, where they are available to the public for free (while supplies last).
The featured story from the most recent issue is always available here at njpalisades.org (along with featured stories from many past issues). You can also sign up to receive the latest featured story by email.
July/August 2010
“Summer Job”
Bob Hartwick shares his memories of being a lifeguard at the Palisades Beaches during the Depression.Summer 1998
“The Perils of the Palisades”
Three things Palisades hikers need to know about: poison ivy, deer ticks, and copperhead snakes.June 1998
Fire on the Mountain
The Palisades Mountain House, sited in what is today Englewood Cliffs, was one of the most elegant hotels in the country when it burned to the ground in 1884.July 1998
The “Mystery” of the Beaches
A whole host of factors led to the closing of the park’s thriving Depression-era bathing beaches—pollution was only the last of these.October 1998
Requiem for a Nut
Wiped out by a blight at the start of the twentieth century, the American chestnut was once one of the most important trees in North America—and the Palisades.November 1998
On His Lordship’s Mysterious Ascent
Controversy has persisted over the precise landing site used by British General Cornwallis for his 1776 invasion of New Jersey.March 1999
Triassic Park
Fossil finds over the decades have shed light on the prehistoric past of the Palisades.June 1999
The Three Ghosts of Forest View
Overgrown and forgotten since World War II, Forest View was once a bustling picnic grove, boat basin, and campground along the Hudson in Alpine.Mar/Apr 2000
Penlyn
From the late 1920s through the mid-1940s, our Park Headquarters was “Penlyn,” the home of Henry Herbert Oltman and his family.Nov/Dec 2000
Fighting for the Fort
Mrs. Peter Henderson recalls her late husband’s efforts, beginning in the 1950s, to preserve Revolutionary history at Fort Lee.Jan/Feb 2001
The Meaning of a Hut
A fire started by vandals robs Fort Lee Historic Park of a key element of its unique school program.Mar/Apr 2001
Stranger Than Weird
In the 1920s, Cora Timken and John Burnett built a secluded estate atop the cliffs in Alpine.Jul/Aug 2001
“We oughta be in pictures...!”
A survey of some of the motion pictures filmed along the Palisades.Sep/Oct 2001
The March of the Forgotten
John Spring describes the march of World War I soldiers from Dumont’s Camp Merritt to the docks at Alpine—at the start of 1918’s flu pandemic.Nov/Dec 2001
Meeting the “Reel” Ghosts
Carol Hoernlein discusses the creation of our video, A New Deal for the Palisades.Mar/Apr 2002
Footnote
Eric Nelsen remembers Margaret Oltman Dean, who grew up in the house that became our Headquarters building.Sep/Oct 2002
“…somewhere between here and Kingston”
Legless Charles Zimmy stops by Alpine Boat Basin during his epic 1937 swim from Albany to New York City.Jan/Feb 2003
The Making of a Hut
Anthony G. Taranto Jr. recounts in words and photographs the reconstruction of a Revolutionary War soldiers’ hut at Fort Lee Historic Park.Jul/Aug 2003
Turkey, Uncarved
Christina Fehre and Emory Davis recount the return of the wild turkey to the forests of northern New Jersey .Sep/Oct 2003
Some Paint, Some Mortar, a Couple of Mops and a Bucket of Water
A major exterior renovation is completed at the Kearney House.May/Jun 2004
“Devil’s Heads”
The intriguing seedpods of the water chestnut, found along our shoreline, provide insight on the topic of invasive species.Sep/Oct 2004
Chipmunks Ahoy!
Sometimes even the most commonplace wildlife has something to teach us about the richness of forest ecology.Nov/Dec 2004
“Alphabet Soup”
The CWA, the WPA, the CCC—these were among the Depression-era “New Deal” agencies that worked in the park.Mar/Apr 2005
Ice, on the Rocks
Frozen water has played its part in shaping the stone ramparts of the Palisades.May/Jun 2005
Putting the Park on Paper
The Palisades have always presented particular challenges to mapmakers.Sep/Oct 2005
Demystifying Greenbrook
Since 1946, Greenbrook Sanctuary has been an oasis in the Metropolitan area, for nature and people alike, and a living lab for scientific research.Nov/Dec 2005
Planting for the Future
An act of criminal vandalism leads to unexpected benefits for the park.Jan/Feb 2006
Remembering “America’s Showplace”
For over two decades beginning in the 1930s, the Riviera nightclub brought some of the world’s biggest names in show business to the Palisades in Fort Lee.Mar/Apr 2006
The Rockslide that Wasn’t
Rockslides are a dramatic fact of life along the Palisades—but did one kill the park’s police captain in 1915?May/Jun 2006
American v. American: the 1781 Battle of Fort Lee
Todd Braisted discusses the other Revolutionary military event that occurred at Fort Lee, one often overlooked by historians.Jul/Aug 2006
Fishermen of the Sky
Emory Davis and Katie Weis describe the osprey, one of our more impressive autumn migrants.Sep/Oct 2006
Making a (Historic) House into a Home
Eric Nelsen shares his reflections on bringing a “living history” program to the Kearney House.Jan/Feb 2007
“Welcome to Lookout Inn”
Since 1939, this little refreshment stand has been serving customers at the highest point on the Jersey Palisades.Mar/Apr 2007
Palisades Lit. 101
A survey of literature available about the Palisades and the park.Jul/Aug 2007
Snakes in a Park
These fascinating creatures are often feared because of misunderstanding.Sep/Oct 2007
Major Armstrong’s Tower
Lindsey Foschini tells of the world’s first FM radio tower, built by Edwin Armstrong in 1938 and still in operation today on top of the Palisades.Nov/Dec 2007
“Cliff Dale” part i
As recounted in the Walker Atlas of 1876, W. C. Baker once ran a modern chicken farm high atop the Palisades.Jan/Feb 2008
“Cliff Dale” part ii
Though it was razed in 1939, hikers still come upon and ponder the impressive remains of George Zabriskie’s summer estate in Alpine.Mar/Apr 2008
Another “Side” of Invasive Species
Invasive plant life is a major concern for scientists and park managers alike—could there be a tasty solution, at least for garlic mustard?May/Jun 2008
Of Times and Tides
Shad fishing along the Palisades remained a thriving enterprise through the early 1960s, as recalled in a 1999 interview with lifelong Alpine resident Bob Wilson.Sep/Oct 2008
“…A Cannon Ball or Two…”
Was a Revolutionary War cannonball dug from the walls of the Kearney House a century ago?Jan/Feb 2009
’09
2009 marks the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s epochal voyage—and the hundredth of the dedication of the Palisades Interstate Park.Mar/Apr 2009
And Wrestled with the Glaciers
In the early 1900s, the painter Van Dearing Perrine spent his winters in an old schoolhouse beneath the Palisades.May/Jun 2009
Fly Away
In 1909, many families still lived along the riverfront in the new park.Jul/Aug 2009
Changing Tides
Dramatic changes in the ecology of the Palisades have occurred in the century since the park’s creation.Sep/Oct 2009
“Beyond the Reach of Devastation”
On September 27, 1909 the governors of New Jersey and New York dedicated the Palisades Interstate Park at the “old Cornwallis Headquarters.”Nov/Dec 2009
“Twombly”
In the 1890s—several years before the creation of the Interstate Park—socialites Hamilton and Florence Twombly donated land for a special picnic grove beneath the Palisades.Mar/Apr 2010
On the Ebb of a Tide
2010 marks the first spring in millennia that shad are not fished in the Hudson.May/Jun 2010
“Gray Crag”
Traces still survive of showman John Ringling’s summer estate on the Palisades at Alpine.
2010 Area Information & Fee Schedule (.pdf file, 4 pages)
