Discover Palisades: History, Culture and Research

If you’re looking for a hotel in Palisades, it helps to consider the themes that shape the area: the cemetery’s history, culture at the iO Arts Center, and research and landscapes at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. These highlights appeal to different interests. The Palisades Free Library adds another dimension with a nearly complete photo collection that can be viewed through New York Heritage. This gives you different starting points for planning your trip: local history, culture, research, and digital access to photographs.

Cemetery History in Palisades

The old section of Palisades Cemetery contains graves dating from before the American Revolution. Many members of prominent families from Palisades’ history are also buried in the cemetery. These features offer two different perspectives: the graves point to an earlier era, while the families buried there provide a connection to local history. If you’re interested in Palisades’ past, you can consider both the historical period and the connection to the area’s families.

Culture in Historic Buildings

The iO Arts Center is rooted in Palisades as a contemporary cultural venue in the historic Yonderhill Building, built in 1858. The center offers exhibitions, concerts, and performances. Here, a historic building meets a range of cultural events. If you’re interested in a particular exhibition, concert, or performance, check the program in advance.

The Palisades Community Center is also housed in a historic schoolhouse built around 1870. Together with the Yonderhill Building, this provides a specific comparison: the iO Arts Center building dates from 1858, while the Community Center schoolhouse dates to around 1870. The dates indicate two different points in time and differ in precision: 1858 is given for the Yonderhill Building, while the schoolhouse is said to have been built “around 1870.”

Research and Landscapes Along the Hudson River

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory combines a scientific focus with a distinctive landscape in Palisades. Its campus covers 189 acres and includes protected woodland along the Hudson River in New York. The observatory currently offers limited in-person tours about every two months. The campus area and protected woodland describe its connection to the landscape; the roughly bimonthly schedule, by contrast, refers to the in-person tour offering. If a tour is important to your trip, check the scheduled dates in advance.

View the Photo Collection Online

The nearly complete photo collection of the Palisades Free Library can be viewed through New York Heritage. This provides digital access to photographs, while in-person tours at the observatory are limited to specific dates. These are two different ways to explore Palisades as you plan your trip: through the collection available online or, if a suitable date is scheduled, as part of an in-person tour.

Discover more destinations: Pearl River, Stony Point, Suffern, Nanuet, Haverstraw, Spring Valley, West Nyack, Orangeburg

For the broader travel overview: Rockland.