Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!

On a chilly March morning, I returned to Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park for a very different kind of event. Instead of a cultural festival or sightseeing visit, I attended a Women’s Wellness Class celebrating International Women’s Day. The gathering took place in the park’s amphitheater overlooking the falls, combining mindfulness and movement with one of New Jersey’s most historic landscapes.

The event, hosted by the park on March 8, 2025, featured an hour of breathwork, meditation, and gentle yoga. Afterwards, participants joined a discussion with Deanna from Women’s Holistic Wellness about holistic health practices for women.

The setting for the event was peaceful and the amphitheater itself is still relatively new. When I first visited this section of the park years ago, the overlook area was in rough shape. Parts of the riverbank had been crumbling into the water, and a chain-link fence blocked visitors from getting close to the edge. Photographers had to search for openings in the fence just to capture the falls.

That changed with the creation of Overlook Park. The renovated space now features a modern amphitheater facing the falls, improved parking, and a stairway connecting the overlook with Mary Ellen Kramer Park. The upgrades transformed the overlook into a welcoming gathering place for community events like this one.

Of course, the history of the falls goes back much further than the recent renovations. The reason the site became a national historical park is closely tied to Alexander Hamilton and his vision for America’s future. As the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton believed the young United States needed strong industry to thrive. Rather than relying entirely on agriculture, he imagined factories powered by America’s rivers and waterways.

To put that vision into action, Hamilton helped establish the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures, often shortened to S.U.M. The organization purchased hundreds of acres surrounding the Great Falls and laid out plans for an industrial city powered by the rushing water of the Passaic River. The new city was named after New Jersey Governor William Paterson, who supported Hamilton’s plan. Paterson would eventually become one of America’s first industrial centers and earned recognition as the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution.

Location: 72 McBride Avenue Extension, Paterson, New Jersey
Designation: National Historical Park
Date designated/established: November 7, 2011
Date of my visit: March 8, 2026