Unplug and Play: $25 Million Revitalization of Bear Mountain

Governor Kathy Hochul has announced that a $25 million rehabilitation project will start this year at the 115-year-old Bear Mountain State Park in Rockland and Orange counties. The project will create a new accessible playground, expand picnic areas, and add public restrooms, while updating crucial infrastructure.

“Bear Mountain has been a cherished destination for families and visitors for over a century,” Hochul said. “This $25 million investment ensures the park’s facilities not only meet the needs of today but will serve generations to come. By expanding access, upgrading infrastructure and enhancing recreation opportunities, we’re making it easier for everyone to get offline, get outside and enjoy time together in one of New York’s most beloved state parks.”

In the coming weeks, work will begin around the iconic Bear Mountain Inn, with plans to include:

– Creating a new destination playground set into the slope of Bear Mountain with multi-leveled play areas connected by a continuous ADA-accessible path, rock scrambles, and slides up to 70 feet in length. A wide variety of play elements and structures representing the rich history of the park and native plantings provide an immersive play environment for children of all ages and abilities.

– Expansion of paved picnic areas along the western side of main lawn and south end of Hessian Lake to increase capacity while reducing erosion of park landscape and impacts to existing trees.

– Landscape enhancements, including protection of existing mature shade trees and planting of new shade trees, native shrubs, perennials and meadows.

– Construction of a new high-capacity public restroom and gathering plaza.

– “Daylighting” an existing stormwater drainage pipe and creation of a naturalized stormwater management basin to reduce sedimentation of Hessian Lake.

– Modernizing electrical infrastructure and improving stormwater management.

– Completing needed structural repairs to existing facilities.

 Once completed, the project will have doubled the number of picnic areas and increased the number of bathroom fixtures by 20.

New York State Parks Commissioner Pro Tempore Randy Simons said, “Bear Mountain has long been a vital resource for people in the metro New York City area and the lower Hudson Valley to get outside and enjoy healthy recreation. Thanks to the support for capital funding from Governor Hochul, these improvements will help expand capacity for one of our flagship parks that is being visited by more people every year. This project will create more space for visitors to spread out and enjoy Bear Mountain like never before.”

Palisades Interstate Park Commission Executive Director Joshua Laird said, “More than 115 years after the Palisades Commission and Mary Averell Harriman fought off a proposed prison and advocated for the creation of a park, Bear Mountain still serves as a gateway to nature and recreation for millions of visitors from the Metropolitan Area. ”

Located on the western shoreline of the Hudson River, the 5,205-acre flagship park is one of the oldest in the State Parks system. More than 2.3 million visitors came to Bear Mountain last year, an increase of more than 25 percent during the last decade.

Construction will begin shortly, with completion expected during the Summer 2027 recreational season. While the park will remain open during construction, some capacity restrictions will be in place.