I’ve often been to Croton Point, usually to walk the dog, but I’d never really given much thought to its history. To me it was just a piece of land jutting out into the River Hudson, which someone had at some point decided to turn into a park. It turns out that it is much more than that. At various times in its history Croton Point has been the site of a significant Revolutionary War event; the home of a magnificent mansion; the ocation of a brickworks and a winery. There was once even a small town or village (now long gone) on the point, built to house the workers at the various businesses. According to the New York Times (See: Hill of Flowers Sprouts Above Toxic Landfill)

Today it’s a spot for walkers, campers, swimmers and the like. It’s also the venue for a well-known annual Music Festival: Clearwater’s Great Hudson River Revival. A few traces of its history still remain, however.

Above: View from Croton Point towards the Hook Mountain State Park on the other side.

According to Wikipedia:

Hook Mountain was known to Dutch settlers of the region as Verdrietige Hook, meaning “Tedious Point”, which may have been a reference to how long the mountain remained in view while sailing past it along the Hudson River, or for the troublesome winds that sailors encountered near the point. Hook Mountain has also been known in the past as Diedrick Hook.

Like other areas of the Hudson River Palisades, the landscape now included in Hook Mountain State Park was threatened by quarrying in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. To ensure the land’s protection, the property was acquired to be a part of the Palisades Interstate Park in 1911.

Portions of Hook Mountain State Park and nearby Nyack Beach State Park were designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1980 for their portion of the Palisades Sill.

Hook Mountain was designated by the New York Audubon Society as an Important Bird Area in 1997, due to its importance as a feeding area for migratory songbirds and hawks. It has been utilized annually as a hawk monitoring station since 1971. The park is currently designated as a “Bird Conservation Area” by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

In May 2015, the Sisters of Our Lady of Christian Doctrine announced that they were considering allowing their 38-acre (0.15 km2) property to become a part of Hook Mountain State Park. The order’s property, which is adjacent to the southern portion of the park, could be sold to The Trust for Public Land, who would then transfer the property to New York State