Palisades Hudson River Overlook

Elevated overlook at the crest of the Palisades offering views of the Hudson River narrows, the George Washington Bridge, and the Manhattan shoreline where Fort Washington stood in 1776. The sheer basalt cliffs dropping 300 feet to the river explain both why Washington considered the position defensible and why the Hessian scaling party's November 20 ascent — up unmarked paths guided by a Loyalist informant — was so devastating. Standing here makes the strategic logic of the twin-fort system viscerally clear.