Physician, naturalist, and United States senator, Samuel Latham Mitchill (Columbia College 1786; U.S. House 1801–1804 and 1810–1813; U.S. Senate 1804–1809) was one of the founding figures of American natural history. A prolific describer of New York and New Jersey geology, botany, and ichthyology, he was among the first scientists to write about the Navesink Highlands as a distinct geological feature. Mount Mitchill, the 266-foot ridge overlooking Sandy Hook from Highlands — the highest natural point on the Atlantic seaboard between southern Maine and the Yucatán — carries his name.
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