Bear Mountain Inn opened in 1915 with a clear ambition: bring people up the river from New York City to a brand-new state park, and give them a lodge worth the trip. More than a century later, the building still does exactly that. The America250 initiative is the right moment to revisit the inn’s role in shaping the modern Hudson Valley vacation, and at Bear Mountain Inn, a proud part of the Adventures Unbound family, we are spending the month sharing how chestnut timber, local stone, and an Adirondack-style design created an enduring American lodge.
The History
Bear Mountain Inn opened in 1915 inside Bear Mountain State Park in Rockland County, New York, overlooking Hessian Lake in the Hudson Highlands. The lodge was designed by the architectural firm Tooker and Marsh in a rustic Adirondack style, taking direct inspiration from the famous Great Camp lodges of the Adirondack Mountains. Builders used local stone and chestnut timber harvested from nearby park lands, giving the inn a deeply rooted appearance that still blends seamlessly into the landscape.
The building was a marquee attraction from day one, intended to draw tourists into the newly developed park. In the 1920s, the inn was modified with steam heat and enclosed windows so it could operate year-round, opening up winter recreation in a part of the country that had long been a summer-only destination. By the 1930s and 1940s, the inn’s reputation was big enough to attract some of the era’s most famous sports teams. The Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Giants, and the New York Knickerbockers all used the inn and nearby athletic facilities for training camps, with the Dodgers in particular holding their wartime spring training here from 1943 to 1945.
The inn was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 and reopened in 2012 after a major preservation-focused renovation. Around the inn, CCC crews in the 1930s built the Perkins Memorial Drive and Tower at the summit of Bear Mountain, along with footbridges, trails, and picnic areas that visitors still use today.
The Connection
The inn exists because Mary Averell Harriman donated 10,000 acres and nearly a million dollars in 1910 to stop commercial development of the Hudson Highlands. Every guest who has ever stepped through the doors of Bear Mountain Inn owes that visit to her decision. Visitors who want to follow the thread can stop by the Trailside Museums and Zoo inside the park, where a garden honors Jane Colden, recognized as colonial America’s first female botanist.
Walking the lobby is a study in the era’s craftsmanship: massive stone, dark beams, the smell of old wood. Step outside and you are looking at Hessian Lake, the Perkins Tower at the summit, and a stretch of the Appalachian Trail that crosses right through the property. It is a setting that has earned its reputation as one of the great accessible getaways within an hour of New York City.
For more America250 stories from across our properties, visit Adventures Unbound’s America250 page.