Preserving the Palisades

Through the 1890s, quarries blasted the Palisades for stone to make gravel and concrete, and the largest, Carpenter Brothers’ quarry just south of here, removed many thousands of tons of broken rock. Public outrage at this “desecration” of the landscape appeared in newspaper articles, including one in the New York Times in 1895. In New Jersey, the effort to preserve the Palisades was led by the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs, whose members toured the quarries by boat in 1897 and stopped at Carpenters’ quarry. In 1900, New Jersey and New York, prompted by the women’s clubs and backed by several prominent individuals and families, including New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt, created an Interstate Park Commission to close the quarries and preserve the Palisades. John Pierpont Morgan donated the funds to close Carpenters’ quarry, where the last blasting took place on Christmas Eve, 1900. The Palisades Interstate Park was formally dedicated in 1909 at Alpine Landing.

Fort Lee, New Jersey · United States