As we celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary, the America250 initiative invites us to honor the workers who built the parks we treasure. At Bear Mountain Inn, a proud member of the Adventures Unbound family, we are recognizing the Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees who transformed Bear Mountain State Park from rugged Hudson Highlands terrain into one of New York’s most beloved outdoor destinations.
Building a Park from the Summit Down
The CCC’s fingerprints are everywhere at Bear Mountain. In the early 1930s, corps crews constructed the scenic Perkins Memorial Drive, a road that winds from the base of the mountain to its summit, opening panoramic views of the Hudson River Valley to anyone willing to make the climb. At the top, they built the Perkins Memorial Tower, an iconic stone structure that remains one of the park’s most photographed landmarks.
Below the summit, CCC workers built and improved numerous trails, footbridges, and access roads throughout the park. They created visitor access to natural features like Hessian Lake and dramatic storm vistas that had previously been reachable only by the most determined hikers. They constructed picnic areas, trail structures, and other amenities that transformed Bear Mountain from wilderness into a functioning public park.
The corps also took on less visible but equally vital conservation work. CCC enrollees managed forestry and landscape projects that controlled erosion, protected woodlands, and maintained natural resources within the park and surrounding Palisades Interstate Park lands. Their conservation efforts laid the groundwork for the outdoor recreation culture that Bear Mountain would come to embody.
Climb the Road They Built
Today, every hike up Perkins Memorial Drive, every picnic by Hessian Lake, and every photograph from the tower at the summit is possible because of the CCC. The trails, the roads, the stone structures blending into the hillside: all bear the mark of young men who worked through the Depression to make this corner of the Hudson Highlands accessible to everyone.
When you visit Bear Mountain, you are walking through a living monument to public service. To learn more about how we are celebrating the diverse stories behind America’s national heritage, visit America250 at Adventures Unbound.