ROCKEFELLER POINT — THE PALISADES
In 1933, John D. Rockefeller Jr., son of the Standard Oil founder, donated hundreds of acres along the Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. He insisted that buildings visible from across the river be removed and that future development not intrude upon the natural skyline. The cliffs were to remain unspoiled, particularly when viewed from New York City.
The son of the man who built an oil empire used part of that fortune to make certain nobody built an empire on top of the cliffs.