A Strategic Location

Near the southern end of the Hudson River Highlands, the Bear Mountain Bridge stands at Anthony’s Nose and Bear Mountain, where the Hudson River narrows and the terrain becomes more rugged, a topography that provided strategic military advantages during the American Revolution and later proved ideal for a suspension bridge. In 1776, Forts Montgomery and Clinton were built on the Hudson’s west bank, and a massive iron chain was stretched across the river to restrict the movement of British ships as Britain sought control of the Hudson River to divide the northern and southern colonies. The natural granite that once anchored the chain later provided solid foundations for the bridge’s towers and allowed its anchorage cables to be attached at minimal cost. The British destroyed the forts and chain in October 1777. Fort Montgomery is now a National Historic Landmark and New York State Historic Site, while Fort Clinton’s remains were largely obliterated in the 1920s during construction of the Bear Mountain Bridge, leaving only portions of the fort’s West Redoubt. The bridge overlooks the Hudson Highlands, an approximately 15-mile section of the river between Peekskill and Newburgh. The bridge project also included a scenic road around Anthony’s Nose, now known as the Bear Mountain Road and the Goat Trail, and a three-mile-long approach road connecting the bridge to the Albany Post Road. Shortly after bridge construction began in 1923, the first section of the Appalachian Trail, connecting Bear Mountain to the Delaware Water Gap, was completed and became a model for future trail sections; the bridge links the trail’s Mid-Atlantic and New England sections and is the only trail section that crosses tidal waters.

Stony Point, New York · United States