Trailside’s story begins in 1920 when it was originally an outgrowth of a Boy Scout camp nature museum at Lake Kanawauke in Harriman State Park. The zoo was established in 1926 to exhibit animals native to the park, with William Carr serving as Trailside’s first director. The Bear Mountain Trailside Museums and Nature Trail was officially established in 1927. Trailside has continued to evolve in exhibit expansion and rehab, in animal policy and in philosophy. 
Currently it is home to four museums which include exhibits on local geology, Native American and colonial history, animal specimens cateloging the parks’ natural history, and live reptiles, amphibians and fish exhibits in the herpetology museum. Connecting these museums are winding nature trails that lead visitors by the bear den and other live animal exhibits .
