Site #19 Storm King from Long Dock Park

Introduction by 2016 Cole Fellow Casey Monroe

Marking the northern gateway of the Hudson Highlands, Storm King looms powerfully over the Hudson River. The mountain inspired Hudson River School artists to muse upon its dynamic and sublime countenance. Once prosaically called Butter Hill, the mountain was renamed in 1820, thanks to American poet Nathanial Parker Willis: “When the white cloud-beard descends upon his breast in the morning… there is sure to be a rain-storm before night… Should not STORM-KING, then, be his proper title?” This idea of the mountain’s vigorous energy and raw power is captured in Thomas Cole’s Storm King of the Hudson and Samuel Colman’s Storm King on the Hudson. When a proposed power plant threatened to defile Storm King, Scenic Hudson led a successful campaign with thousands of concerned citizens to preserve the mountain, setting a landmark precedent for protecting our nation’s treasured scenery.

This site was prepared for New York State Water Resources Institute and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Hudson River Estuary Program, with support from the NYS Environmental Protection Fund

Plan Your Trip

Contact
Visit their Website
845-473-4440

Admissions
Free 

Parking
Free Lot 
Also accessible by train via a short walk from MTA’s Beacon Station.

Restroom
Yes

Accessibility
Accessible 
Meets all standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Hours
Open all seasons, restrooms seasonal, portable toilets 
Dawn to dusk with gate closing as marked