The High Point Monument

And there it is ahead of you — the High Point Monument, a slender stone obelisk climbing two hundred and twenty feet into the sky, right at the summit of the state. You can't miss it; it's visible for miles across three states, a white needle on the highest hill around. Pull into the lot and get out — this is the heart of the park.

It's built of local quartzite, that hard, pale ridge rock, and it was raised at the end of the nineteen twenties as a memorial — Boone will tell you the whole story of who built it and why. When it's open in season, you can climb the stairs inside to a little observation room near the top, and from up there the view is simply staggering: New Jersey rolling away south, New York's Catskills to the north, and Pennsylvania's Poconos across the Delaware valley to the west. Three states, one glance. Stand at the base, crane your neck up that white spire against the autumn sky, and you'll feel why they chose this spot.