Early in its history educating visitors about wildlife was an important part of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission’s mission. For 95 of the 100 years of camping nature education has been part of the everyday life of a camper. One of the first to provide regular nature programs was Uncle Bennie, Benjamin Babbit Talbot Hyde from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Uncle Be
nny presented lectures and carried animals to the camp children and adults. Eventually regional museums were established and furnished with professional scientists and educators displaying the various park flora and fauna for the campers to learn and enjoy. Currently there are four sites Tiorati, Twin Lakes, Kanawauke and Stahahe; supported by the Trailside Museum and Wildlife Center. The following description of Regional Museums originally written in 1968 is a stunning resemblance to what still takes place for ten wonderful weeks every summer. Take a handsome rough building bolstered by massive glacial boulders set it down in an unspoiled wooded setting nestled among the granite outcroppings of the Hudson Highlands fill it with a sampling of its environment; the ferns and cattails, the frogs and crayfish, the black snakes and opossum, the minerals and wildflowers. Design its exhibits decorate its walls creatively and fill it with light. Open its doors wide to the children of the New York metropolitan area from Harlem and Long Island, from Newark New Jersey and the lower east side. Invite the families who come to visit, camp and hike. Develop programs to reach the children and families personally and intimately to open them to the beauty of their surroundings and the wonder of the living things which with they share this environment. Do all this and visualize a Regional Nature Museum in the Harriman section of New York’s Palisades Interstate Park. For over 95 years four such institutions have quietly served thousands of youngsters in children’s camps each summer totally over a million campers by the late 1960’s. The Regionals benefitted in its early days with help from the American Museum of Natural History and the New York Zoological Society. Aid still comes from the Bear Mountain Trailside Museum. The prime responsibility for each Regional Museum rests with its two staff members. They develop exhibits and programs each year beginning in June with an empty building. Each year filling it to their own individual bent. By the time they close in late August they will have developed colorful exhibits based on their collections of living and non-living things. By season’s end they will have served thousands of city and suburban children and adults; most from non-profit organizations including those for developmentally disabled adults, families, the very young, and those without permanent residence.
