What environmental project has the NJSFWC been most famous for?
WOMEN’S FEDERATION MEMORIAL
DID YOU KNOW………
The Cliffs at the Palisades along the Hudson River in New Jersey was this famous project. Recorded back to the deep geological time of about 200 million years ago, the cliffs at the Palisades provide parks, trails, and wildlife to explore. There you will encounter dense woodland abutting a soaring rock wall. The Palisades Interstate Park covers about 2,500 acres of riverfront forest rising up 500 feet from the water’s edge. This beautiful sight is made up of dark igneous rock and basalt cliffs across 50 miles of the Hudson River.
The gorgeous New Jersey landscape was nearly lost to the continual pressures of the age of industrialization in America. Going back millions of years ago, volcanic activity created this zone and geologists located the perfect place to read rock formations. Cores from the rocks were drilled out to look at mineral deposits and dinosaur footprints were discovered. This research continues to discover more about how climate influenced mass extinction events as these layers of exposed rock are crucial to their research. However, the culprit was runaway mining over a century ago that almost destroyed the Palisades and this geological treasure.
A century ago, the Palisades was a source of rock for use in railroads and railways across New Jersey and New York. Miners would blast the cliffs with dynamite to collect broken-up boulders that were left behind due to the need for concrete for construction purposes as well. This prompted lobbying by the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs and the establishment of the PIPC or Palisades Interstate Park Commission. The ladies were mainly concerned with open space and a natural refuge for countryside visitors. Because the National Park Service did not exist, a commission was needed to investigate over 30 miles of interconnected hiking trails which the women’s club members wanted to save. The outcome was panoramic views, an easy two-mile hike, and a stone tower which is a monument to the women who saved the park.
The Women’s Federation Monument is on the cliff top in Alpine, N.J., dedicated April 30, 1929 to honor the role that the NJSFWC took in preserving the Palisades. This beautiful area consists of towering sheer cliffs, waterfalls, and rock pillars. As the ladies fought for legislation to protect the Palisades; the N.J. and N.Y. governors formed an Interstate Park Commission to acquire land to preserve the cliffs and shorefront. As a result, the monument built in 1929 was designed to resemble an ancient watchtower like those along the River Rhine in Europe. Members of the Englewood Women’s Club took up the purpose to get sister clubs all across the state of New Jersey interested in the cause. During a state convention in the north, some of the women’s leaders viewed the quarry devastation and decided that the Palisades must be saved.
NOTE: A generation before suffrage the women of N.J. fought against 300 men who blasted and broke down stone from these quarries. The power and money of these people did not prevent the unique Interstate Park from being created. The land at Alpine on top of the cliffs was named “Federation Park.” This little “castle” on the Palisades is now part of the New Jersey’s Women’s Heritage Trail.
I hope that you enjoyed reading about the past history of this important endeavor to preserve the beauty of a N.J. treasure and geological site for ongoing and future study by looking back in the mirror of time!
Linda J.