Great Outdoors

While reading our assigned reading this week, the section that interested me the most was Dunwell's chapter on the Great Outdoors. This chapter intrigued me because I was amazed by the many examples of philanthropy and environmental preservation that were taking place along the Hudson River Valley. One of the people that I thought was very influential in preserving the land was Edward H. Harriman who took it upon himself, with the help of others including his wife when he passed, to preserve a large section of the Hudson Highlands. The preservation would cease the building of the Sing Sing prison and would provide a park of 10,000 acres to be run by the Park Commission. What is also interesting about this preservation effort was that a lot of prominent people were donating money to make sure that the beauty of the Hudson River Valley was preserved. The work of Edward Harriman and his wife Mary provided the state with a great park that to this day is still very popular and "receives more visitors annually than Yellowstone National Park" (Dunwell 159). This was pretty shocking to me because when I think of National Parks, Yellowstone and Yosemite are the ones I think of right away it it would never have occurred to me that a park along the Hudson River would receive more annual visitors. Another section of the chapter that interested me was the work by conservationists to preserve the scenic Palisades. They were being diminished at a staggering rate for construction purposes in New York City and in 1897 the public began to take action to try to preserve The Palisades. The Palisades were eventually purchased and protected thanks to the generous donations of many prominent people, including J.P. Morgan, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Twombly as well as others and the states of both New York and New Jersey. This chapter was interesting because it illustrated the beginning of a philanthropic and conservationist movement on the Hudson River and because of the work of these people and states, part of the Hudson's natural beauty was preserved for future generations to see and enjoy.