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BY KRISTIN BEUSCHER
OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
Shown here is a circa 1890 snapshot of the Englewood Cliffs Rod and Gun Club. Notice anyone who looks familiar? That’s Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th president, standing front and center in the light-colored sweater.
Of course, this was all before Roosevelt became the youngest president in our nation’s history in 1901, before he became governor of New York in 1899, and even before he was New York City’s police commissioner back in 1895.
Roosevelt, of Dutch ancestry, was born and raised in New York and was very familiar with the Northern Valley’s prized Palisades cliffs, which towered over the landscape just across the river. In his younger years he spent many hours hunting and fishing on the Hudson River alongside members of the Rod and Gun Club, which was based in Englewood Cliffs.
Later, as governor of New York, Roosevelt would be integral in efforts to preserve the cliffs after years of destructive quarrying. He teamed with New Jersey Gov. Foster M. Voorhees in signing legislation in 1900 to form the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, a compact which is still going strong 118 years later.
Aside from having a personal affinity for the Palisades due to his time spent there, Roosevelt was known to be an ardent naturalist who advocated for the preservation of wilderness as well as park and forestry programs.
Even as commander in chief, Roosevelt never forgot his dear old Palisades. He purchased an oil painting of the cliffs, created by the artist Van Dearing Perrine, to have it hung in the White House.
