Edward Henry Harriman, a wealthy landowner who lived near the Bear Mountain tract, proposed to donate ten thousand acres of his estate as well as one million dollars to the PIPC on the condition that the State of New York discontinue work on the prison and provide matching funds to expand the park to the Hudson River. The state acquired the matching funds from generous private benefactors.

Bear Mountain State Park

Work began immediately to prepare the land for a park. A dock was built to accommodate steamboat traffic. Underbrush and dead wood were cleared to make a path around Highland Lake. In 1916, the name changed to Hessian Lake as focus on the region's history increased. A great playing field, 130 feet above the level of the river, was leveled and connected to the dock by a road. By 1913 a shelter had been added to the dock along with a pedestrian passageway under the West Shore Railroad tracks near the brand new railroad station. Trails were created on top of Bear Mountain. Comfort stations, drinking fountains, a refreshment shelter, rowboat facilities, tennis courts, and ball fields were added for the benefit of visitors. Over the next few years the forest, ragged and depleted from over cutting, was replenished by hundreds of thousands of seedlings.

During the summer of 1913 regular steamboat service started from New York City and 22,590 passengers were carried to Bear Mountain for day trips and for camping around Hessian Lake. By 1914, it was clear that Bear Mountain would be one of the most popular recreation areas in the state. Roads to the park were widened, literally paving the way for the growth of motor travel to the park.

Bear Mountain Inn

Also in 1914, construction began on the Bear Mountain Inn that when finished would include a restaurant, a cafeteria, overnight accommodations, a bakery, a laundry, and for a time, a soda bottling facility. Gifts and purchases expanded the parks in subsequent years. Listed on the National and New York State Register of Historic Places, the 1915 rustic style Bear Mountain Inn is located at the base of Bear Mountain overlooking both the Hudson River and the historic Hessian Lake. It is the architectural jewel of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC) and is a familiar landmark for many visitors. Park employees constructed the Inn and its furnishings using natural materials, including chestnut, and other timber and fieldstone found in the park. In a national context, the Bear Mountain Inn ranks high as an excellent example of rustic design set amidst a natural landscape. There is nothing like it in this part of the country. It is the centerpiece of a great park system developed at the edge of metropolitan New York City. The Inn represents a very early, unusual example of a rustic lodge on a scale comparable, design-wise and functionally, to National Park Lodges. The Inn is currently under renovations. When completed, it will be the site of special events and celebrations and a setting where park visitors can quietly enjoy fresh air, recreation and the beauties of nature.

Winter Sports

Bear Mountain made every effort to provide an interesting schedule of activities for summer visitors that included ball games, boating, races, and contests on the playfield. To the delight of park patrons, the commissioners decided to add an array of winter sports making the park a year-round recreation destination. During the winter of 1922-23 visitors could experience tobogganing, skiing, snow shoeing, and ice-skating. In succeeding seasons an enclosed skating rink was the scene of exciting hockey games and ice shows. Surpassing all other winter events, however, was world class ski-jumping that thrilled generations of athletes and spectators.

Trailside Museum and Zoo

Nature study has been a staple in the Palisades Interstate Park since 1921, when the American Museum of Natural History installed a facility at the Boy Scouts headquarters on Lake Kanawauke. Four years later, the same Museum began a program for the study of insects in Harriman State Park. The Commission added a bear den in 1926, which became a small zoo,  as the facility took in more injured animals in need of shelter. Today's Trailside Museums and Zoo occupy 40 acres on a bluff 250 feet over the Hudson River. The trails – including the first section of the Appalachian Trail – are among the oldest in the country; they link the various homes of Samantha, the eagle, and other birds of prey, the bear den, as well as habitats for beavers, a river otter, foxes, coyotes, etc. Staff uses various enrichment methods to stimulate the animals, ranging from toys, foods, and scents, to altering the landscape of the enclosures.

Training Camp

During the Great Depression, the PIPC, in concert with the steamboat companies, kept prices low to make the park accessible. In 1941 a new manager was hired for the inn. For the next 25 years John Martin left the stamp of his vibrant personality and creative administrative skills on the park. An avid sports fan, Martin invited a variety of teams to Bear Mountain to train. Visitors came in droves to watch the Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Giants, Olympic boxing hopefuls, and other athletes during their practices. After World War II, the playgrounds saw a new generation of children delight in all the park had to offer. Meanwhile, the continued growth of the park system eventually led to the acquisition of several mountain villages whose loss is still mourned by locals. One of these was Doodletown, an area south of Bear Mountain.

The Perkins Memorial Drive and Tower

The Perkins Memorial Drive and Tower was built to honor George Walbridge Perkins Sr. with funds provided by his descendants. Perkins was the first PIPC president and widely regarded as its founder. The sinuous and steep Drive, which leads to the Tower 1,305 feet above the Hudson River, was blasted into the mountain by 1,500 workers using 50,000 tons of dynamite. The tower, built to serve as a weather station and fire lookout, served those purposes until the 1950s. Work began in 1932, thanks to labor provided by the NYS Temporary Relief Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps. The drive and tower were inaugurated in 1934. With its 360-degree panorama, the Perkins Memorial Tower offers spectacular views of the Hudson River, the Hudson Highlands, the Bear Mountain Bridge, U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Storm King, and Fort Montgomery. Four states are visible (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania), as well as the New York City skyline.

Bear Mountain Today

Through generous gifts and purchases in subsequent years, Bear Mountain has expanded into a heavily forested expanse of approximately 5,000 acres. Primarily a day-use park, it is accessible by car and bus. Located 45 miles north of New York City, activities in the park today include a large playing field, picnic groves, rowboat docks on Hessian Lake, swimming pool and bathhouse, nature trails including key segments of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and the Long Path, an ice-skating rink, basketball court, Trailside Museums and Zoo, Iona Island Estuarine Reserve and Bird Refuge, Perkins Tower, the Merry-Go-Round and pavilion. In addition to the historic Inn, Overlook Lodge and Cliffhouse, four stone lodges that overlook both Hessian Lake and the Hudson River Valley are located within the park.