Page "Weehawken, New Jersey" Paragraph 42

From 1820 to 1857, the site was marked by two stones, with the names Hamilton and Burr, placed where they were thought to have stood during the duel.

When a road from Hoboken to Fort Lee was built through the site in 1858, an inscription on a boulder where a mortally wounded Hamilton was thought to have rested — one of the many pieces of graffiti left by visitors — was all that remained.

No primary accounts of the duel confirm the boulder anecdote.

In 1870, railroad tracks were built directly through the site, and the boulder was hauled to the top of the Palisades, where it remains today, located just off the Boulevard East.

In 1894, an iron fence was built around the boulder, supplemented by a bust of Hamilton and a plaque.

The bust was thrown over the cliff on October 14, 1934 by vandals, and the head was never recovered ; a new bust was unveiled on July 12, 1935.