Slipping through time, let’s journey back 200 million years. Picture Earth as a single, massive continent called Pangaea. The birth of Cliff Road Park, nestled within the larger Palisades formation, began not with a bang, but a slow, silent surge. Molten rock pushed upwards from the Earth’s core, intruding through weaker sandstone. This volcanic eruption happened underground, hidden from sight. The molten rock eventually cooled and hardened into diabase, a tough rock similar to basalt. Cliff Road Park lay dormant, encased in sandstone, for millions of years. Slowly, relentlessly, weather and erosion chipped away at the softer sandstone, revealing the diabase beneath. This process sculpted the dramatic cliffs we see today at Cliff Road Park, part of the Palisades. The Palisades, or “Wee-Awk-En” – “the rocks that look like trees” – as the Lenape people called them, extend 40 miles, from Staten Island to Haverstraw. Cliff Road Park stands as a testament to this immense geological timeline. Imagine glaciers carving through the land, and massive chunks of rock breaking free, plunging into the Hudson River. These rockfalls created shockwaves, sometimes as powerful as earthquakes. One such rockfall in 1938 left a unique mark on the Palisades near Cliff Road Park. The exposed cliff face resembled a man with a mustache, a fleeting portrait erased by another slide just nine years later. Cliff Road Park, within this dramatic landscape, offers a glimpse into deep time. A place where the Earth’s ancient history is etched in stone.
Gould Family Mausoleum
Ever heard of a “Robber Baron?” Here at Woodlawn Cemetery stands the Gould Family Mausoleum. It is a testament to