At , Harriman State Park is the second largest

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

. Located in Rockland and

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

counties north of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, it is a haven for hikers with over of

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

trails. The park is also known for its 31 lakes, multiple streams, public

camping Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more nat ...

area, and great vistas. The park's hiking trails are currently maintained by volunteers from the

New York - New Jersey Trail Conference New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. On its northeastern edge, Harriman State Park borders the Bear Mountain State Park as well as the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

's forest reserve. To the southwest, it partly borders the state-owned Sterling Forest reserve. These areas, together with the state's Storm King forest reserve of , amount to contiguous protected forests that are substantially larger than Harriman alone.

History

Edward Harriman and

Mary Averell Harriman Mary Williamson Averell Harriman (July 22, 1851 – November 7, 1932) was an American philanthropist and the wife of railroad executive E. H. Harriman. Born in New York to a successful family, Averell married Harriman in 1879. Averell's father i ...

owned in

Arden, New York Arden is a hamlet around the town line of the Orange County towns of Tuxedo and Monroe in the "boot" of New York, United States, west of the Hudson River. It is roughly coterminous with the 10910 ZIP Code. The area was originally known as Gr ...

as part of their estate. They opposed the state's decision to build a prison at Bear Mountain and wanted to donate some of their land to the state in order to build a park. A year after the death of her husband in 1909, Mary Harriman proposed to Governor

Charles Evans Hughes Charles Evans Hughes Sr. (April 11, 1862 – August 27, 1948) was an American statesman, politician and jurist who served as the 11th Chief Justice of the United States from 1930 to 1941. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the ...

that she would donate of land and $1 million for the creation of a new state park. As part of the deal, the state would do away with the plan to build the prison, appropriate an additional $2.5 million to acquire additional land and construct park facilities. The

Palisades Interstate Park Commission The Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC) was formed in 1900 by Governors Theodore Roosevelt of New York and Foster Voorhees of New Jersey in response to the quarrying operations along the Palisades Cliffs of New Jersey. The Palisades, a Na ...

would have its authority extended north into the

Ramapo Mountains The Ramapo Mountains are a forested chain of the Appalachian Mountains in northeastern New Jersey and southeastern New York, in the United States. They range in height from in New Jersey, and in New York. Several parks and forest preserves en ...

and 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 ...

, and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

would also contribute an amount of money deemed reasonable by the Commission. The state agreed and on October 29, 1910, W. Averell Harriman presented a deed for the land and a million-dollar check to the Commission. In 1913, Major William A. Welch started construction on the road from Bear Mountain to

Sloatsburg Sloatsburg is a village in the town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York, United States. Located east of Orange County, it is at the southern entrance to Harriman State Park. The population was 3,039 at the 2010 census. The village is named ...

, known today as the

Seven Lakes Drive Seven Lakes Drive is a north–south parkway located in the Hudson Valley region of New York in the United States. It extends for just under on a northeast–southwest alignment from an intersection with New York State Route 17 (NY 17) i ...

. In 1962 a new road from the Southfields section of

Tuxedo Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element fo ...

to Kanawake Circle was opened. There were also numerous other roads completed around Bear Mountain and

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 ...

in order to make it easier for people to reach the new park. In addition, there was

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

service from

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

offering round-trip tickets for 85 cents for adults and 45 cents for children. The park received a large influx of free labor during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

(CCC) offered thousands of young men work such as building roads, trails, camps and lakes. Projects completed by the CCC in the park included Pine Meadow, Wanoksink, Turkey Hill, Welch, Silvermine and Massawippa Lakes. In 1993, the

World Orienteering Championships The World Orienteering Championships (or WOC for short) is an annual orienteering event organized by the International Orienteering Federation. The first World Championships was held in Fiskars, Finland in 1966. They were held biennially up to 2 ...

were held at Harriman State Park.

Trails

Crossing of Appalachian Trail and Long Path (2013)

There are more than forty marked hiking trails ( total) in Harriman, and another 57 unmarked trails and woods road (, foot traffic ''only''). Some of the better known trails include the following: *

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 ...

, are within the park * Blue Disc Trail, 2.8 miles (4.5 km) *

Long Path The Long Path is a long-distance hiking trail beginning in New York City, at the West 175th Street subway station near the George Washington Bridge and ending at Altamont, New York, in the Albany area. While not yet a continuous trail, relying ...

, are within the park * Pine Meadow Trail, * Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail, * Red Cross Trail, * Seven Hills Trail, * Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail, * Timp-Torne Trail, * Tuxedo-Mt Ivy Trail, * White Bar Trail, In addition to the hiking trails there are a number of horse trails in the southeastern portion of the park and a mountain bike trail at the Anthony Wayne Recreation Area in the northeast of the park. In winter some of the trails are open for cross-country skiing. The hiking trails are maintained by the

Environment

The park lies within the

Northeastern coastal forests The Northeastern coastal forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of the northeast and middle Atlantic region of the United States. The ecoregion covers an area of 34,630 sq miles (89,691 km2) encompassing the Piedmont a ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

Lakes

There are 32 lakes and ponds in Harriman. Some of the larger ones are: *

Lake Sebago At , Lake Sebago, near Sloatsburg, is the largest lake in Harriman State Park in the U.S. state of New York. The name is Algonquian for "big water". It is located just south of Lake Kanawauke and is accessible via Seven Lakes Drive and the P ...

, ,boat launch, cabin camping * Lake Tiorati, ,swimming beach, boat launch * Lake Welch, , swimming beach, camping *

Lake Kanawauke Lake Kanawauke is a primarily man-made lake in Harriman State Park. The name is Onondaga in origin, and means "place of much water". There are three parts to the lake, lower, middle and upper; the total area is . It is located in the Town of T ...

(lower, middle and upper), * Lake Stahahe, * Silver Mine Lake, * Pine Meadow Lake, * Turkey Hill Lake, * Island Pond, * Lake Askoti, * Lake Skanatati, * Lake Wanoksink, * Lake Skenonto, * Queensboro Lake, * Hessian Lake, * Summit Lake, Image:White-tailed Deer, Sebago Lake.jpg,

White-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

Image:RedEft.jpg, Red eft on the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail Image:Otter, Sebago Lake.jpg,

Otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

at Lake Sebago Image:TimberRattler.jpg,

Timber rattler The timber rattlesnake, canebrake rattlesnake, or banded rattlesnake (''Crotalus horridus'') Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of ...

near the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail Image:Black Duck, Sebago Lake.jpg,

American black duck The American black duck (''Anas rubripes'') is a large dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. It was described by William Brewster in 1902. It is the heaviest species in the genus ''Anas'', weighing on average and measuring in length with an ...

at Lake Sebago Image:Black snake.jpg,

Black snake Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

on the Pine Meadow Lake Trail Image:White-tailed Deer, Kanawauke Lake.jpg, White-tailed deer at

Image:Island Pond-Harriman State Park.jpg, Island Pond, Harriman State Park

Parkways and park roads

The following parkways exist within the park; *

Palisades Interstate Parkway The Palisades Interstate Parkway (PIP) is a limited-access highway in the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. The parkway is a major commuter route into New York City from Rockland County, New York, Rockland and Orange County ...

* Long Mountain Parkway *

Lake Welch Parkway Lake Welch Parkway, sometimes labeled Lake Welch Drive, is a parkway located within Harriman State Park in southern New York in the United States. It extends for on a southwest–northeast alignment from an intersection with Seven Lakes Drive t ...

* Tiorati Brook Road *

Arden Valley Road Arden Valley Road is a scenic road located in Southfields, New York, in the United States, that travels through Harriman State Park and is owned by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission. At long, it begins at New York State Route 17 (N ...

- Rockland CR 106

References

* Myles, William J., ''Harriman Trails, A Guide and History'', The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, New York, 1999.
50 Hikes in the Lower Hudson Valley
��Written by New York-New Jersey Trail Conference members Stella Green and H. Neil Zimmerman, The Countryman Press. 296 pages, 2008, 2nd ed.

External links

New York State Parks: Harriman State Park

Palisades Interstate Park Commission: Harriman State Park

New York-New Jersey Trail Conference: Harriman-Bear Mountain State Parks

Harriman Hikers
{{authority control Civilian Conservation Corps in New York (state) Parks in Orange County, New York Parks in Rockland County, New York Protected areas of the Hudson Highlands Ramapos State parks of New York (state)