Harriman State Park (New York)

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Harriman State Park is a Template:Convert state park in the U.S. state of New York.<ref name="park size">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Located in Rockland and Orange counties Template:Convert north of New York City, it is the state's second largest, and features 31 lakes, multiple streams, public camping area, and great vistas. Its over Template:Convert of trails are a haven for hikers, currently maintained by volunteers from the New York - New Jersey Trail Conference.

On its northeastern edge, Harriman State Park borders the Template:Convert Bear Mountain State Park and the United States Military Academy's Template:Convert forest reserve. To the southwest, it partly borders the state-owned Template:Convert Sterling Forest reserve. Together with the state's Template:Convert Storm King, these contiguous protected forests are almost as large as Harriman alone.

History

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Mary Harriman Rumsey, daughter of E. H. and Mary Averell Harriman

Edward Harriman and Mary Averell Harriman owned Template:Convert in Arden, New York 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 that she would donate Template:Convert 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 would have its authority extended north into the Ramapo Mountains and the Hudson Highlands, and New Jersey would also contribute an amount of money deemed reasonable by the Commission. The state agreed and on October 29, 1910, Harriman's son W. Averell Harriman presented a deed for the land and a million-dollar check to the Commission.

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Lake Kanawauke

In 1913, Major William A. Welch started construction on the road from Bear Mountain to Sloatsburg, known today as the Seven Lakes Drive. In 1962 a new road from the Southfields section of Tuxedo to Kanawake Circle was opened. There were also numerous other roads completed around Bear Mountain and Dunderberg Mountain in order to make it easier for people to reach the new park. In addition, there was steamboat service from Manhattan 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 Civilian Conservation Corps (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 1974, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231 crashed in the park.<ref name="ntsbreport">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} - Copy at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.</ref> In 1993, the World Orienteering Championships were held at Harriman State Park.

Trails

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Crossing of Appalachian Trail and Long Path (2013)

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

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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 New York - New Jersey Trail Conference.

Environment

The park lies within the Northeastern coastal forests ecoregion.<ref name="terrestrial">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Lakes

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Great blue heron and mallards at Silvermine Lake
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Great blue heron at Sebago Lake

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

Parkways and park roads

The following parkways exist within the park:

See also

References

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  • 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.

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