This conservation story brought the land into the limelight. At the same time, Archer Huntington also decided to donate his bordering 470-acre estate, which included Little Tor, to the newly created park. When Orden died in 1942, local conservation groups, led by the Hudson River Conservation Society and the Rockland County Conservation Association, rallied together and raised $12,000 to buy the property, which was later turned over to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission for long-term protection. The owner at that time, Elmer Van Orden, staunchly opposed letting the land be mined for quarry purposes (the mountain’s diabase or “trap-rock” composition had been eagerly eyed by quarry operators for years). The land was sold in a grant from George III before the Revolution to the forebears of the Orden family, who owned the land for generations until 1942. An aircraft beacon was also once located on the High Tor summit, and the anchors of the beacon are still visible to visitors today. After the settlers arrived, the land’s history varied, most notably including as a signal point during the American Revolution and as the site of an air raid watch during World War II.

The park sits on the homelands of the Munsee Lenape peoples, who lived between the shores of the Hudson and the hills of the Catskills for thousands of years. Located on South Mountain, the park hosts the highest peaks in the Hudson Palisades, High Tor (~800 ft) and Little Tor (~600 ft), and visitors of this park are rewarded with some of the most outstanding views in the lower Hudson Valley. High Tor State Park is a 618-acre stretch of forested ridge separating the towns of New City and Haverstraw, NY.

High tor ny