Snake Hill

Snake Hill (known officially as Laurel Hill and sometimes called Fraternity Rock) is an igneous rock intrusion jutting some 150 feet (46 m) up from the floor of the Meadowlands in Secaucus, New Jersey, USA. It was largely obliterated by quarrying in the 1960s that reduced its height by one-quarter and its base area by four fifths. The diabase rock was used as building material in growing areas like Jersey City. The graffiti-covered remains of Snake Hill are a familiar landmark to travelers on the New Jersey Turnpike's Eastern Spur, which skirts its southern edge. The large protruding rock along the Hackensack River bank is the highest point on Laurel Hill.

Laurel Hill was formed by volcanic action over 150 million years ago. Much later, colonists kept away from the peculiar sloped hill because of the many large black snakes found there and coined the nickname “Snake Hill.”

Read more about Snake Hill:  Laurel Hill County Park, Field Station: Dinosaurs, History

Famous quotes containing the words snake and/or hill:

    People can be as greedy as a snake trying to swallow an elephant.
    Chinese proverb.

    Tawny are the leaves turned, but they still hold.
    It is the harvest; what shall this land produce?
    A meager hill of kernels, a runnel of juice.
    Declension looks from our land, it is old.
    John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974)