Fort Lee Museum (the Judge Moore House) Free Attraction!      1588 Palisade Avenue Fort Lee, NJ 07024  201-592-3580 The building that houses the Fort Lee Museum was constructed of bluestone from the Palisades by Judge Moore in 1922. It sits atop land that served as an encampment for our troops, by order of General George Washington, during the Revolutionary War.

Today this structure provides a home for many reminders of years gone by. One of these is the brightly colored rug which was originally from Bill Miller’s Riviera, a well-known nightclub that sat high upon the Palisades in Fort Lee, north of the George Washington Bridge. During the 1940’s, it was a popular venue for entertainers such as Frank Sinatra, Eddie Fisher and Abbott and Costello.

Many glass cases are filled with archival photos showing the borough’s early days, when it became the birthplace of the motion picture industry.  Photos of the well-known Barrymore family, who once lived in the Coytesville section of Fort Lee, are plentiful, and a few old pieces of photography equipment sit atop the display area.

Photographs of the George Washington Bridge, large and small, surround the interior of the rooms – one shows Franklin Delano Roosevelt attending the opening day ceremony of the George Washington Bridge in 1931. An oversized glass case holds such varied items as Macy’s soap engraved with an image of the bridge, to a clipping from a New York newspaper that asked its readers to enter a contest to name the bridge.

Outside the museum is Monument Park, which was dedicated in 1908 and reconstructed in 2004 for the Fort Lee Centennial celebration. This park honors the soldiers of the American Revolution.