The Palisades in the painting’s background makes this picture easy to pinpoint as being painted on the banks of the Hudson, a few miles from where the Hudson River Museum now stands. Still living in Yonkers with his parents when he painted this picture, McCord, for years, had gazed across the Hudson at the spectacular rock face and probably knew its profile by heart. In the distance autumn colors mark the point where the Palisades turn into rolling hills.