Bear Mountain Bridge Road is a , two-lane section of US 6/ US 202 from the west approach to

Bear Mountain Bridge The Bear Mountain Bridge, ceremonially named the Purple Heart Veterans Memorial Bridge, is a toll suspension bridge in New York State. It carries US 6 and US 202 across the Hudson River between Bear Mountain State Park in Orange Co ...

to a former toll house in the Town of Cortlandt, New York, United States. Local residents sometimes refer to the road as the Goat Trail. It winds around the steep, rocky slopes of Anthony's Nose, the southernmost peak of the

Hudson Highlands The Hudson Highlands are mountains on both sides of the Hudson River in New York state lying primarily in Putnam County on its east bank and Orange County on its west. They continue somewhat to the south in Westchester County and Rockland County ...

on the east side of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. In its first mile from the junction with NY 9D it climbs to a scenic overlook that looks out over Iona Island,

Dunderberg Mountain Dunderberg Mountain is a mountain on the west bank of the Hudson River at the southern end of the Hudson Highlands. It lies just above Jones Point, New York, within Bear Mountain State Park and the town of Stony Point in Rockland County, New Yo ...

, the city of

Peekskill Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fr ...

and the Charles Point power plant. There are interpretive displays on the history of the area during the Revolutionary War, where the

Hudson River Chain The Hudson River Chains were a series of chain booms constructed across the Hudson River at West Point by Continental Army forces from 1776 to 1778 during the American Revolutionary War. These served as defenses preventing British naval vessels ...

was deployed and the

Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery The Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery was an American Revolutionary War battle fought in the Hudson Highlands of the Hudson River valley, not far from West Point, on October 6, 1777. British forces under the command of General Sir Henry Cli ...

was fought. Near its eastern end, approximately from the bridge, is a

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

-style former toll house. It also served as the toll taker's residence. In 2002 it was renovated by the Town of Cortlandt and now serves as an information center and gift shop for visitors to the region. A small parking lot serves hikers taking a popular trail along Anthony's Nose, through lands in the Camp Smith

New York Army National Guard The New York Army National Guard is a component of the New York National Guard and the Army National Guard. Nationwide, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the United States Army's available combat forces and approximat ...

base just above the highway, to the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tr ...

just north of the bridge. At its eastern end, before intersecting with

US 9 U.S. Route 9 (US 9) is a north–south United States highway in the states of Delaware, New Jersey, and New York in the Northeastern United States. It is one of only two U.S. Highways with a ferry connection (the Cape May–Lewes Ferry, betwe ...

at the Annsville Circle, the road falls to the level of the

, which it parallels. There, near the entrance to Camp Smith, looking south across a bay and the

Metro-North Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority of the U.S. state of New York and under contract with the Connecticut D ...

railroad, can be seen the Indian Point nuclear power plant. The state required the Harriman family to build the road when the bridge was built in the mid-1920s, in order to connect the bridge with

just north of Peekskill. It was intended to be higher on the mountainside than the similar Storm King Highway, which had been built upriver a decade earlier. Like that road, it has a stone wall, made from the of material excavated during the highway's construction. Bear Mountain Bridge Toll House

The legislation that allowed the bridge's construction stipulated that the road and bridge would revert to the state at no cost after 30 years. When that happened, the toll collected on the eastern end was eliminated, and the toll collector and his wife moved to the western toll house, where he served as bridge manager, until he retired. The road and toll house were listed together on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1982 as part of the

Hudson Highlands Multiple Resource Area The Hudson Highlands Multiple Resource Area is a Multiple Property Submission study supporting multiple listings in 1982 to the United States National Register of Historic Places. It originally included 58 properties spread over the counties of Dut ...

multiple property submission, the only property in

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

included in that group. Bear Mountain Bridge Road II

References

{{reflist Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Westchester County, New York U.S. Route 6 U.S. Route 202 1924 establishments in New York (state) Transportation in Westchester County, New York

See also

References