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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
FORT LEE, 1.3 miles (280 alt., 8,759 pop.), appears chiefly as an assort-
ment of roadhouses, oil stations, and small eating places. The residential
and business district is off the highway (L). Little of the community is
seen, however, because of the series of highway underpasses and over-passes designed for automatic sorting of the bridge traffic. (Watch carefully for US 1 markers.)
During the Revolution this plateau at the crest of the Palisades was
selected by Washington as the site of the fort for which the town is
named. His plan was to prevent the British fleet from sailing up the Hudson River to West Point. From the rocky bluff, Washington watched the
attack and surrender of his garrison at Fort Washington, directly across
the river, in November 1776. A few days later he was forced to abandon
Fort Lee.
Early in the twentieth century Fort Lee became one of the cradles of
the motion-picture industry. Before narrow, boxlike cameras, with reels
on top like the ears of Mickey Mouse, cowboys and Indians exchanged
fusillades and whoops as, respectively, they galloped madly to rescue the
lovely maiden from a fate worse than death or to write another terrible
chapter in frontier history. Serial thrillers are no longer made here, but a
printing studio that normally employs several hundred persons still oper-
ates. Some of the barnlike buildings used by the old studios are near the
highway (L). A red dome and gilded cross (L) are on the CONVENT OF
HOLY ANGELS.
Swinging south after its separation from the other bridge exits and
approaches, US i crosses Main St., Fort Lee, down which Washington
marched after evacuating the fort. For a short distance the highway runs
on the western crest of the Palisades ridge. Here there is no rock wall, but
elevation is sufficient to permit a broad view of Overpeck Creek in the
valley below, and, beyond the next ridge, the slender line of the Hacken-
sack River.
The road begins its descent to the valley on a long straight embankment. Below (R) lies the community of PALISADES PARK, with a
cluster of apartment houses, small dwellings, and schools.
At 2.9 miles US 46 (see Tour 7) branches L. from US 1 and enters a
depressed route through Morsemere.
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