NY/NJ Trail Conference volunteer crew worked all day recently to build stone steps at Sloatsburg’s Liberty Rock trailhead. Crew members included John Mack, Stephen Zubarik, Richard Lynch, Joan James, Noel Schulz, and Gay Mayer.

In late December, amid a foggy cold mist, a New York/New Jersey Trail Conference crew spent a day building stone steps for a new Sloatsburg trailhead.

John Mack, Stephen Zubarik, Richard Lynch, Joan James, Noel Schulz, and Gay Mayer volunteered trail crew time for the trail head project at Liberty Rock, which is featured in the NY/NJ Trail Harriman State Park 2015 trail maps.

Members of the New York/New Jersey Trail Conference crew, led by Trail Chair for West of the Hudson John Mack, wrangle with a rock as they build stone steps at the Liberty Rock Trailhead in Sloatsburg, NY. (Video shot by Kathy Goldman)

The new Liberty Rock Trail is part of Liberty Rock Park, a 55 acre parcel of land in Sloatsburg that includes Liberty Rock overlook and was purchased by the Town of Ramapo in 2008 as part of its open space program. Liberty Rock Park is set to remain parkland in perpetuity and was once part of Jacob Sloat’s Harmony Hall estate.

Red-tailed hawks sit watch atop a tree on Liberty Rock. Sloatsburg, NY.

Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence worked with the Friends of Harmony Hall to secure the building for historic preservation in 2006 and the property was listed that same year on the State and National Registry of Historic Places. The Jacob Sloat House has also received a matching grant from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation.

John Mack and crew worked meticulously on cobbling together field stones perfect for steps on the increasingly wet, foggy day, lining up several big flat rocks dropping them into place. Kathy Goldman pitched in a roll of leftover metal siding that Sloatsburg sheet metal worker Bob Lagudi cut into white blazes that now mark the trail.

New trail sign with rendered Red-tailed hawk soon to be installed at the Liberty Rock Park trailhead.

The Liberty Rock effort has been co-ordinated by Goldman and Geoff Welch, who have worked the past several years to locate, clear and maintain the 1/4 mile trail which has a 550 foot elevation that culminates in a picturesque view overlooking Harmony Hall and central Sloatsburg — a view of the Ramapo Pass, including Torne Mountain.

Liberty Rock Park was a rallying point for Sloatsburgers some years back, when Village residents came together to reject a major residential development on the property — which eventually led to Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence stepping up to include the property as open space and parkland.

Liberty Rock Park on the most recent NY/NJ Trail Conference Harriman Bear Mountain trail maps.

Goldman commissioned wood artist Jennifer Leonard to create a handmade trail head sign, which was paid for by The Friends of Harmony Hall. The sign includes a hand rendered picture of a Red-tailed hawk – which are often seen scanning for prey from trees above Liberty Rock.

Goldman said that what she hopes is up next for Liberty Rock is a nice historical marker to give the local feature its proper place of importance.

According to local lore, Liberty Rock may have been a beacon fire rock during the Revolutionary War, part of a chain of important Hudson Valley peaks used to communicate information via beacon fires. Torne Mountain itself was known to be used as a beacon rock to announce the end of the Revolutionary War.

Members of the New York/New Jersey Trail Conference crew work the second stone step in place, with a finishing splash at the Liberty Rock Trail Head in Sloatsburg, NY. (Video shot by Kathy Goldman)