High Point (New Jersey)

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High Point, New Jersey

High Point from Greenville, NY
Elevation 1,803 feet (550 meters)
Location New Jersey, USA
Range Kittatinny Mountains, Appalachians
Coordinates 41°19′15″N, 74°39′42″W
Easiest route road

High Point is located in the northwestern part of New Jersey in Montague, Sussex County in the Skylands Region of New Jersey, is the highest elevation in the state at 1,803 feet (550 m). It is just southeast of Port Jervis, New York. High Point is the highest peak of the Kittatinny Mountains.

At the peak is the High Point Monument, a 220-foot (67 m) tower, built in 1930 to commemorate the war dead.

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[edit] High Point State Park

The mountain is located inside the 14,193 acre (57 km²) High Point State Park. Route 23 skirts the park and provides access for visitors from the New Jersey suburbs and from points in New York State. The park is administered by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry.

Entrance fees are only charged from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day: $ 5.00 on weekdays and $10.00 on weekends.[1]

The land for High Point State Park, donated by Colonel Anthony R. and Susie Dryden Kuser, was dedicated as a park in 1923. The pleasant landscaping was designed by the Olmsted Brothers of Boston, a prominent landscape architectural firm of that time. The brothers were the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park.

To the south, the Appalachian Trail follows a rocky ridge which offers many scenic views of the valleys and mountains surrounding the area. To the north, the trail drops off the ridge through hemlock gorges into former agricultural fields with a view of the surrounding countryside and the High Point Monument in the distance.

The park is planned to be closed as of July 1, 2008 under Gov. Jon Corzine's budget plan. Veterans groups, who have held an annual memorial at the site, have expressed their opposition to the proposal.[2]

[edit] High Point Monument

High Point Monument
High Point Monument

The monument was built to honor war veterans, through the generosity of the Kusers. Construction began in 1928 and completed in 1930. At the top of the 220 foot (67 m) structure (the base is 34 square feet (3.2 square meter)), observers have a spectacular view of the ridges of the Pocono Mountains toward the west, the Catskill Mountains to the north and the Wallkill River Valley in the southeast. At the top of New Jersey's tallest knob, the Monument is an obelisk monument similar to other war monuments, such as the one located on Bunker Hill in Massachusetts.

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