A Taste of Spring, Former Slave Community on the Palisades and an Italian Garden

We know the weekend is over when we sit down on Sunday night to write this column. But what a great weekend it was! Saturday was made to order for Little League opening day and gave us the taste of spring we’ve been hungering for.

The highlight of the weekend was undoubtedly the Hike to Peanut Leap Cascade led by Palisade Interstate Park Historical Interpreter, Eric Nelsen. It’s no secret that we’re a big fan of the PIP hikes and this one was a favorite. 

Peanut Leap Cascade comprises what is perhaps the most beautiful part of the Palisades. To think that this particular piece of paradise is so near to where we live, yet so unknown, is beyond belief. This well-attended hike began at the State Line Lookout on the Palisade Interstate Parkway and continued north along a road that was the original northbound 9W, before the Parkway was built.

Peanut Leap is the only section of the Palisades where you can walk with relative ease all the way down to the river, because there is a natural break in the cliffs. It was at this point that Washington (and Martha when she was visiting) crossed over from New York. In the 1700s, before the Revolutionary War, the Dobb family set up their ferry on the New York side and made their money ferrying New Yorkers and commerce over to New Jersey. Later in the 1800s, they ferried wealthy New Yorkers across the river to their summer houses that lined the Palisades.

Just as we approached the New Jersey/New York border we literally ran into a large stone monument from 1882 marking the often-disputed boundary between New Jersey and New York. The 157 acres of land that sits on the other side of this boundary belongs to Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. This land was donated to Columbia by a wealthy family, Thomas and Florence Haskell Corliss Lamont, whose weekend estate sat on this property, for the purpose of building a geological observatory. It’s one of the world’s leading research centers.

As we ominously eyed the turkey vultures that circled overhead and walked past High Gutter Point, so-called because lumberjacks could easily slide logs down the mountain, we came to “Skunk Hollow,” a former slave community. It’s believed that the name came from the skunk cabbage that grows abundantly throughout the swampy area.  

The first settler in Skunk Hollow was a former slave named Jack Earnest. (Bergen County was the largest slave-owning county in New Jersey.) Jack, born into slavery in the 1770s, bargained with his master to buy his freedom, which he did by working for others after his duties for his master were done for the day. Eventually Jack bought his freedom and on January 1, 1806, paid $87.50 for five acres of land in Skunk Hollow. In 1822 he purchased six additional acres.

Unlike many former slaves, Jack did not take the name of his master when he bought his freedom. He chose the name “Earnest” it is believed because he was so earnest about buying his own land. Skunk Hollow was land he could afford because the farming was almost impossible due to the steep rock hills and swamps. This was subsistence farming at best—growing only what you need for your family to survive.

Following Jack’s lead, other former slaves settled in Skunk Hollow and a vibrant community of about 100 families grew. Many of these former slaves were now employed by their former masters and would leave the community daily to go to work.

In 1860, the wealthiest person in Skunk Hollow was Reverend William Thompson, an African-American Methodist minister who purchased Jack Earnest’s property and built a church in Skunk Hollow. Nelsen informed us that Jack met a tragic end—he was burned in a fire. It’s believed that an ember from his fireplace caught on his bedding while he was sleeping and killed him. 

Around 1911 the community of Skunk Hollow was no more. Most of the residents moved to other, less rural, towns such as Closter or Sparkill. The Skunk Hollow Church was moved to Sparkill, where it still stands today as the St. Charles A.M.E. Zion Church. In the 1930s the Rockefeller family purchased the land and donated it to the Palisade Park Commission.

From Skunk Hollow we came to the great Peanut Leap Cascade—a magnificent waterfall that falls from the very top of the Palisades and cascades down to the base of the cliffs. When we finally reached the bottom, we found ourselves standing in the ruins of what was once a formal Italianate Garden built in 1900 by the famed sculptor Mary Lawrence (who studied under Augustus Saint Gaudens) on a part of her family’s estate “Cliffside.”  Mary modeled this garden after a garden she saw at an Italian monastery off the Amalfi Coast.        

This garden consisted of a beautiful stone pergola, a pool, statues and fountains. Even amidst these decaying ruins we were able to get a sense of the breathtaking splendor that the vibrant garden must have exuded. Mary used this garden to entertain her friends by throwing fabulous parties that were written up in the New York Times. She introduced the most exotic foods to her American guests, such as “spaghetti.” In 1910, she hosted the legendary “Venetian Fete,” where her guests were treated to live music, amazing food and gondola rides on the Hudson to raise money for area children in need.

As we ascended back up the majestic Palisades and back to our ordinary non-Italianate garden lives, we felt a bit of remorse leaving behind such exalted beauty but took with us the ruins of what must have been one fabulously feted life!