Bear Mountain & Harriman State Parks
Perkins Memorial Tower: A View Built by the Conservation Movement
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
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Transcript
The summit view feels like the reward for climbing Bear Mountain.
The tower is a reminder that even the reward was designed.
Perkins Memorial Tower was built in the early 1930s and dedicated in 1934.
It honors George W. Perkins, one of the major figures in the Palisades Interstate Park Commission and the expansion of the interstate park system.
The stone structure belongs to the rustic public-works landscape developed across the park during an era when scenic overlooks were major civic projects.
From the summit, several stories in this guide become visible at once.
The Hudson corridor.
Hessian Lake.
Bear Mountain Bridge.
Harriman's interior lakes and ridges.
On clear days, the metropolitan region itself seems remarkably close.
That view explains why early conservationists saw these Highlands as more than remote mountain property.
They were a regional landscape capable of serving millions of urban residents.
The summit also demonstrates a conservation paradox.
A viewpoint attracts visitors.
Visitors erode trails.
Roads and parking make access easier.
Easier access increases pressure.
The modern Appalachian Trail around Bear Mountain required major reconstruction because popularity was physically wearing the route away.
In 2023, extreme rainfall caused severe storm damage across the park, forcing another cycle of repairs.
Do not use that as permanent trip-planning information; conditions change.
Use it as historical perspective.
Protected landscapes still experience weather.
Human infrastructure in those landscapes is temporary and repairable.
The tower does not conquer Bear Mountain.
It frames it.
Every panoramic view from here depends on a long chain of choices:
save the land, build the road, build the trail, construct the tower, maintain all three—and accept that nature will periodically damage the work.