In 1910, a New York widow offered the state 10,000 acres and $1 million if it abandoned a planned prison and created a public park instead

In 1910, when New York planned to build a prison in the Hudson Highlands, one widow proposed an alternative plan. Rather than allowing the forests to become a prison complex, Mary Williamson Averell Harriman offered the state a bargain that would permanently reshape one of the region's most scenic areas.

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