Rockland County, New York

Rockland County, New York
Location in the state of New York
New York's location in the U.S.
Founded	1798
Seat	New City
Largest city	New City
Area  - Total  - Land  - Water	199 sq mi (515 km²) 174 sq mi (451 km²) 25 sq mi (65 km²), 12.60%
Population  - (2000)  - Density	286,753 1,647/sq mi (636/km²)
Website	www.co.rockland.ny.us

The Tappan Zee Bridge, in a view looking from the Westchester County shoreline towards Rockland County.

Rockland County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, 12 miles (19 km) north-northwest of New York City. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2000 census, the population was 286,753. The county seat is New City. The name comes from "rocky land", an early description of the area given by settlers. Rockland is New York's southernmost county west of the Hudson River. It is suburban in nature, with a considerable amount of scenic designated parkland. Popular recreational activities include gold panning in Nanuet along the Naurashaun Brook south of Townline Road, exploring the Paleolithic ruins west of the Hackensack River, and fossil and Indian arrowhead collecting west of Sickletown Road.Rockland County does not border any of the New York City boroughs, but is only 9.5 miles (15.3 km) north of Manhattan at the counties' (New York and Rockland) two respective closest points (Palisades, New York, in Rockland and Inwood Park in Manhattan)

Rockland County ranks 9th on the list of highest-income counties by median household income in the United States with $75,306 according to the 2000 census. It is served by area code 845.

Rockland County is one of 24 areas in New York State designated a Preserve America Community.

Time Capsule

A time capsule is a historic cache of goods and/or information, usually intended as a method of communication with future people and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, and/or historians.

On Wednesday, April 28^th 2010, Rockland Community College buried a time capsule in front of the Technology Building celebrating the 50th Anniversary of RCC's establishment. This entry was posted prior to placing the Rockland County Wikipedia page in the capsule.

History

Lenapehoking

Halve Maen in Hudson

King James II of England

Capture of British Major John André

Edward Henry Harriman

The area that would become Rockland County was originally inhabited by Algonquian-speaking Indians, including Munsees, or Lenni Lenape.

In 1609, Hendrick Hudson, thinking he had found the legendary "Northwest Passage", sailed on the Half Moon up the river that would one day bear his name and anchored near the area that is now Haverstraw before continuing to disillusionment at Albany.

The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in the area. A number of unique Dutch-style red sandstone houses still stand, and many placenames in the county reveal their Dutch origin.

When the Duke of York (who became King James II of England) established the first twelve counties of New York in 1683, present-day Rockland County was part of Orange County. Orangetown was created at the same time, originally encompassing all of modern Rockland County. Haverstraw was separated from Orangetown in 1719 and became a town in 1788; it included the present-day Clarkstown, Ramapo and Stony Point. Clarkstown and Ramapo became towns in 1791, followed by Stony Point in 1865. Rockland County was split from Orange County in 1798.

During the American Revolution, when control of the Hudson River was viewed by the British as strategic to dominating the American territories, Rockland saw skirmishes at Haverstraw, Nyack and Piermont, and significant military engagements at the Battle of Stony Point, where General "Mad" Anthony Wayne earned his nickname. George Washington had headquarters for a time at John Suffern's tavern, the later site of the village of Suffern.

British Major John André met with American traitor Benedict Arnold near Stony Point to buy the plans for the fortifications at West Point. André was captured with the plans in Tarrytown on his way back to the British lines; he was brought to Tappan for trial in the Tappan church, found guilty, hanged and buried nearby.

The American Industrial Revolution was supplied, in part, from forests and iron mines in Rockland County. Resource utilization extracted a heavy toll on the region, especially from lumbering and agriculture, since the poor, thin soils on hillsides were easily depleted. By the early 1900s development along the lower Hudson River had begun to destroy much of the area's natural beauty.

Many unsuccessful efforts were made to turn much of the Hudson Highlands into a forest preserve. However, when the State of New York tried to relocate Sing Sing Prison to Bear Mountain in 1909, some of the wealthy businessmen who had homes in the area, led by Union Pacific Railroad president E. H. Harriman, donated land as well as large sums of money for the purchase of properties in the area of Bear Mountain. Bear Mountain/Harriman State Park became a reality in 1910, and by 1914 it was estimated that more than a million people a year were coming to the park.

Thomas F.X. Casey, the county historian, said in a 2007 magazine article that many Hasids began to settle into Rockland County after World War II. Casey added that, prior to the opening of the Tappan Zee Bridge, the county was "underpopulated" and that the settlement of the Hasids did not result in major conflict.^[1]

Hangings in Rockland County

• Claudius Smith - (1736 – January 22, 1779) was a notorious Loyalist guerrilla leader during the American Revolution.
• British Major John André - (May 2, 1750 – October 2, 1780) was a British army officer hanged as a spy during the American Revolutionary War.
• Issac Jones (1793) Bar room brawl killing.

The Clarksville Witch 1816

Jane Kannif, the widow of a Scotch physician, lived in a small house on Germonds road in West Nyack. She devoted herself to the care of her only child, a son by a previous marriage, named Tobias Lowrie. She treated, with great results, neighbors that came to her with herbs and methods she learned from her late husband. But “Naut Kannif”, as she was called, seemed to have been exceedingly eccentric. According to the people at that time she dressed oddly, strange hairdos and unsociable. She was regarded as insane - worst yet - a witch in an era of superstition. It was decided to take “Naut” to Auert Polhemus’s grist mill and using his great flour scales weigh her against the old Holland Dutch family Bible, iron bound, with wooden covers and iron chain to carry it by. If outweighed by the Bible, she must be a witch beyond any doubt, and must suffer accordingly. She was taken to the mill against her most earnest protest, put on the scales, and weighed. Weighing more than the Bible, the committee released her. This was the last witch trial in the state of New York.

Civil War

95th New York Volunteer Infantry

• 95th New York Volunteer Infantry fought in the Civil War under the commandment of Ulysses S. Grant, Major General James Samuel Wadsworth and General Brigadier General Edmund Rice (general). The companies were recruited principally: A, B, C, D, G and H in New York city; E in Brooklyn and New York city; F at Haverstraw; I at Sing Sing; and K at Carmel, Peekskill, Sing Sing and White Plains. ^[2] The infantry joined in the action of the Railroad cut on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. They fought many battles including Battle of Mine Run, Grant's Overland Campaign, Battle of the Wilderness, Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, Battle of North Anna, Battle of Cold Harbor and the Siege of Petersburg. They saw the war to the end including engagements in the Battle of the Weldon Railroad, Battle of Hatcher's Run, and the Appomattox Campaign.

Historical figures who have visited Rockland County

Aaron Burr - 3^rd Vice President of the United States.
Alexander Hamilton - 1^st United States Secretary of the Treasury.
Benjamin Harrison - 23^th President of the United States.
Millard Fillmore - 13^th President of the United States.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt - then Governor of the State of New York and afterwards the 32^nd President of the United States.
George Clinton - First (and longest-serving) elected Governor of New York, and then 4^th Vice President of the United States.
George Washington - 1^st President of the United States (1776 - 1783) Approximately 20 times.
Gerald Ford - 38^th President of the United States.
Grover Cleveland - 24^rd President of the United States.
Harry S. Truman - 33^rd President of the United States.
Jimmy Carter - 39^th President of the United States.
Martha Washington - The 1^st First Lady of the United States.
Martin Van Buren - 8^th President of the United States.
Richard Nixon - 37^th President of the United States.
Robert F. Kennedy - United States Senators from New York & 64^th United States Attorney General.
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani - 107^th Mayor of New York City
Theodore Roosevelt - 26^th President of the United States.
Thurgood Marshall - Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Other Historical figures who have visited Rockland County

• Babe Ruth, aka - "Babe", "The Bambino", and "The Sultan of Swat", In 1920, the first year he played with the New York Yankees, he starred in the film Heading Home with scenes shot in Haverstraw and Valley Cottage.
• Comte de Rochambeau - A French aristocrat, soldier, and a Marshal of France who participated in the American Revolutionary War.
• General "Mad" Anthony Wayne earned his nickname leading 1,350 Continental Army troops in a surprise attack against the 544 man British garrison at Stony Point.
• Henry Lee III - An early American patriot who served as the 9^th Governor of Virginia and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 19^th district. He was also the father of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.
• John William Hill - British born American artist. He was the son of John Hill who resided in West Nyack and was known as "Master of the Aquatint".
• Marquis de Lafayette - Revolutionary War hero and a leader of the Garde Nationale during the French Revolution visited in 1824.
• Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He accompanied President Martin Van Buren when Van Buren came to call on Mrs. Gertrude Oblenis of West Nyack.
• Bruce Springsteen - American recording artist, recorded his first two Columbia albums with the E Street Band at 914 Studios in Blauvelt in the early 1970s.

Other Historical figures in Rockland County

• John Charles Frémont (January 21, 1813 – July 13, 1890), was an American military officer, explorer, the first candidate of the Republican Party for the office of President of the United States, and the first presidential candidate of a major party to run on a platform opposing slavery. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder. It remains in use, and he is sometimes called "The Great Pathfinder".^[3][4]. He is buried at Rockland Cemetery at Sparkill.

• Henry Honychurch Gorringe (August 11, 1841-July 7, 1885) was a United States naval officer who attained national acclaim for successfully completing the removal of Cleopatra's needle from Alexandria, Egypt to Central Park, New York City. He is buried at Rockland Cemetery at Sparkill.

Other notable figures who have lived in Rockland County

Actors

See Hudson River School for other artists who have added to Rockland County's fame.

Visit pages of Towns and Villages for other notable figures/residents who have lived or live in Rockland County.

Historical Places of Rockland County

See National Register of Historic Places listings in Rockland County, New York.

Historical Events in Rockland County

2009 Celebrate New York's 400^th.

Replica of Henry Hudson's ship Halve Maen - (Half Moon), joined by several ships including Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, The 19^th century schooner replica Mystic Whaler and the 1614 replica Onrust made stops in Rockland County.

News Events in Rockland County

• Lawrence Taylor - New York Giants hall of fame linebacker was arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a minor in Suffern in May 2010.

Did you know...

• ...Cereo, first baby food, was manufactured by Macy Deming at the Haring Adams (Deming) House in Tappan.

• ...The Christ Episcopal Church of Piermont - 416 Valentine Avenue in Sparkill - is Rockland’s first established Episcopal Church. This stone church was built in 1865. The first service was held in 1847 in a converted warehouse.

• ...The Congregation of the Sons of Jacob, 37 Clove Avenue in the Village of Haverstraw begun in 1877 is the oldest Jewish congregation in Rockland County.

• ...Doodletown settlement is now a ghost town.

• ...Dr. Davies Farm was owned by a relative of Meriwether Lewis (of the Lewis and Clark Expedition).

• ... Haverstraw King's Daughters Village Library - The oldest public library in Rockland County.

• ...Josephine Hudson House in the hamlet of Rockland Lake belonged to the first woman to work in the Knickerbocker Ice Company. Money is currently being raised to preserve the house.

• ...Julius Braunsdorf, industrial developer & founder of Pearl River was the inventor of carbon arc light bulbs and electric generators and installed the first indoor lighting in the world in U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

• ...Knickerbocker Ice Company - established 1831 in Valley Cottage at Rockland Lake had the cleanest and purest ice in the area and became known as the "Icehouse of New York City".

• ...Lafayette Theatre - 97 Lafayette Ave in Suffern is Rockland’s only surviving movie palace.

• ...New Hempstead Presbyterian Church, known as The English Meeting House was the first English-speaking church west of the Hudson River in New York State.

• ...The Orangetown Resolutions were adopted in Tappan when Great Britain increased its taxes on tea and crops, prompting protest from local patriots on Monday, July 4, 1774, two years to the date before adopting the Declaration of Independence.

• ...The first railroad line across Rockland County was built in 1841 and ran from Piermont to Ramapo.

• ...St. John's in the Wilderness is the only private land within the Harriman State Park.

• ...St. Paul's Episcopal Church - 26 South Madison Ave in Spring Valley was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

• ...St. Peter's Catholic Church, 115 Broadway in the Village of Haverstraw is the first Catholic church in Rockland County. The first Mass was celebrated on November 14 1847.

• ...Tallman was named after Tunis Tallman, a direct descendant of Rockland's oldest family.

• ...Thurgood Marshall won a disparity case regarding integration of the schools of Hillburn, 11 years before his landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education, on behalf of the African-American parents.

• ...Tolstoy Foundation of Valley Cottage, founded in 1939 by Alexandra Lvovna Tolstoy, youngest daughter of Leo Tolstoy.

Law/Government and Politics

United States House of Representatives

• Eliot Engel New York 17^th District - The district encompasses the southern portions and southwest part of Rockland County, the Bronx and Westchester County.
• Nita M. Lowey New York 18^th District - The district encompasses the eastern-central parts of Rockland County, the northern suburbs of New York City and includes most of Westchester County.
• John Hall New York 19^th District - The district encompasses most of the northern parts of Rockland County, parts of Dutchess, Orange and Westchester Counties, in addition to the entirety of Putnam County.

U.S. Rockland County Congressional Districts Map

New York State Senate

Thomas P. Morahan (R,C,I,WF) (October 11, 1931 - July 12, 2010) represented the entire county of Rockland in the New York State Senate and parts of Orange County, New York for the 38th district. He was a member of the New York State Assembly from the 96th district from January, 1981 – December, 1982.

New York State Assembly

New York State Assembly Rockland County Districts Map

County Executive

The county executive is C. Scott Vanderhoef (R), who was re-elected in 2009 to his fifth four-year term. He is the second county executive in Rockland history, having defeated the incumbent, John Grant (D), in 1993. Vanderhoef ran for Lieutenant Governor in 2006. Prior to 1985, Rockland County did not have a county executive. On January 7^th 2010, the day after being sworn to his fifth four-year term, Vanderhoef stated he was keeping his options open when it comes to running for statewide office again.

John T. Grant

John T. Grant (March 11^th 1932 - May 8^th 2010) In 1985 Grant became Rockland's first county executive serving two terms. He held his first elected office, a seat on the Thiells Roseville Fire District Board, at age 26. He worked on behalf of John F. Kennedy's presidential run in 1960, as a member of the Young Democrats. He served on the Haverstraw Town Board in the 1960s, as well as being the first Rockland County Legislature. Prior to serving as county executive, He served as a marine in the Korean War and worked as a banker for 30 years starting with Haverstrsw Bank and Trust in 1954 and retiring as Assistant Vice President from Chemical Bank in 1985. Afterwards, he volunteered for a number of organizations, including United Hospice of Rockland and United Way.^[5]

County Legislature

Rockland is divided into 17 single-member legislative districts. The Chairwoman of the Legislature is Harriet Cornell. The other legislators are:

Legislative Districts Map

Town Governments

The five Towns of Rockland County are led by Town Supervisors and Town Boards. The villages encompassed in the Towns are led by Mayors and Village Trustees.

The five Town Supervisors are: (General Election - 2009)

In 2009 Ramapo Supervisor Christopher P. St. Lawrence, is making a bid for lieutenant governor in the upcoming 2010 election.

County Courts

There are three types of general trial courts in Rockland County: the New York Supreme Court, the County Court and the Justice Courts. The Supreme Court is the trial level court of the New York State Unified Court System, which presents some confusion as the Supreme Court is the highest court of appeals in the federal system as well as in most states (the Court of Appeals is the highest court in New York State). The Supreme Court has broad authority over all categories of cases, both civil and criminal. Generally the Supreme Court in Rockland County hears civil cases involving claims in excess of $25,000. While the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over criminal cases in most counties this is handled by the County Courts. In Rockland however, the Supreme Court does exercise jurisdiction over some criminal cases.

The County Court is inferior to the Supreme Court and is authorized to hear all criminal cases that have occurred in the county as well as limited jurisdiction over civil cases. The County Court handles felony cases exclusively and shares jurisdiction with the town and village justice courts on misdemeanor cases and other minor offenses and violations. The County Court's jurisdiction on civil cases is limited to those involving less than $25,000.

Each of the towns and fifteen of the villages have Justice Courts. These courts mostly hear routine traffic ticket cases, especially from the New York State Thruway and the Palisades Interstate Parkway. They also handle drunk driving charges, lower-level criminal misdemeanor matters, and they will occasionally perform arraignment on felonies (most felony proceedings are heard in County Court). These courts generally handle the highest volume of cases, which, considering the population density and highways in the county, is not surprising.

Businesses

Rockland County is home to more than 10,000 businesses, both large and small. Including Novartis sole U.S. production facility. There are also thousands of restaurants in Rockland County serving all kinds of cuisines. There are business districts and main streets in Rockland County with collections of businesses. Such districts and main streets are located all over Rockland County, including New City, Suffern, Nyack, and Pearl River. Main streets are becoming more and more uncommon in the United States, but Rockland County has several.

Geography

Pine Meadow Lake in Harriman State Park.

Rockland County lies just north of the New Jersey-New York border, west of the Hudson River, and south of Orange County.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 199 square miles (516 km²), of which 174 square miles (451 km²) is land and 25 square miles (65 km²) (12.60%) is water. Approximately 30% of Rockland County is parkland.

The highest elevation in the county is Rockhouse Mountain, at 391 m (1,283 ft). However, nearby Jackie Jones Mountain also has a summit above 390 m (1,280 ft) whose exact elevation is not known and may well be higher.

The lowest elevation is sea level along the Hudson River.

Rockland is the smallest county in New York outside of New York City.

Hudson River Fish Advisory

The Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Rockland County recommends that one should consume no more than one half pound of fish caught in the Hudson River per week with the exception of those listed below.

They further recommend that women of childbearing age and children under 15 should not consume any fish from the Hudson River.

Lakes in Rockland County

Lake Welch

Lk Kanawauke

Parks in Rockland County

More than one-third of Rockland County is parkland. Beside town, memorial, and play parks of all shapes and sizes, there are battlefields, nature parks, preserves, and trails. These are some of the most visited parks in Rockland County as well as the state of New York.

• Dunderberg Mountain - A landmark for British forces during the American Revolutionary War, The formation of the Dunderberg Spiral Railway Corporation in 1889 and Thomas Edison, in 1890, began to establish an iron mine by acquiring nearly 200 acres on the north slope of Dunderberg.

• Buckberg Mountain - The site of Washington’s Lookout, an observation point used by General George Washington and Colonel “Mad” Anthony to plan a surprise attack on British troops in the Battle of Stony Point. The post overlooked Haverstraw Bay and afforded views of the Hudson River to the north and south.

Dog Parks in Rockland County

• Kakiat County Park, Suffern: Access to the park is on Route 202, opposite the Viola Elementary School. The park has several trails that permit leashed dogs, but the dog run itself is a fenced-in area measuring about 75 feet by 150 feet. The ground, which is sloped slightly, is covered in a mixture of dirt and wood chips, allowing dogs to run, dig, and play.
• Kennedy Dells County Park, New City: The nearest access to the dog run is from the parking lot between the soccer fields. The dog run, surrounded on all sides by grass that backs into wooded space, is about 80 feet by 220 feet of grass, wood chips and dirt land.

Golf Courses in Rockland County

Rocks of Rockland

• Indian Rock - This 17,300-ton Proterozoic granite gneiss is .8-1.2 billion years old. Originating between the Ramapo Mountains and Hudson Highlands, this glacial erratic was deposited in Montebello by the Laurentide Ice Sheet approximately 21,000 years ago.

• Maria's Rock - Front lawn of Pfizer/Wyeth - (Lederle Laboratories), North Middletown Road in Pearl River - An 18th- century legend tells of a little girl named Maria who wandered from her home in nearby Tappan and died of hunger and exposure. Tradition says that villagers found her bones near the massive boulder.

• Spook Rock is the largest of the cluster of rocks located on Spook Rock Road and Highview Avenue in Airmont. The Tappan and Warawankogs of the Lenni-Lenape Wolf Tribes, members of the Algonquin Nation worshipped the sun, moon, stars, and a spirit called Manitou. Story has it that a Dutch farmer's daughter was sacrificed at this site and her ghost appears on the anniversary of her death.

The Dunderberg Spiral Railway

A pleasure railroad partially constructed in 1890-1891 and never finished. The first part of the ride would have taken the cars up two inclined planes to the summit 900 feet above the Hudson River, where visitors could disembark to enjoy the scenery. Then the cars would have coasted by gravity down a nine-mile scenic railway, making two spirals and three switchbacks. It would have been to this day the biggest roller coaster ever constructed.

Piermont hand-cranked drawbridge

The Piermont hand-cranked drawbridge was originally built in 1880 by The King Iron Bridge Company, a Cleveland company in the state of Ohio that constructed more than 10,000 bridges over six decades. The hand-cranked drawbridge is used as a pedestrian walkway providing a link to Tallman Mountain State Park. This bridge is the only hand-cranked drawbridge in Rockland County and perhaps in the United States. Back in the day, fishermen on sloops heading up and down the creek got out of their vessel, cranked up the drawbridge, sailed across, got out of their vessel and cranked down the drawbridge for vehicular traffic. The whole bridge was dismantled piece by piece, sent off-site for restoration and restored to its original state after a complete forensic analysis. Allan King Sloan, the great-great-grandson of the company's founder, provided some of the information that is on the historical marker nearby and attended the dedication ceremony on August 7, 2009.

Adjacent counties

Tappan Zee

• Orange County (northwest/north)
• Putnam County, across the Hudson River (northeast)
• Westchester County, across the Hudson River (east)
• Passaic County, New Jersey (west)
• Bergen County, New Jersey (south)

Rockland's borders with Putnam and Passaic counties are short, totaling less than one mile (1.6 km).

Demographics

As of the census^[6] of 2000, there were 286,753 people, 92,675 households, and 70,989 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,646 people per square mile (636/km²). There were 94,973 housing units at an average density of 545 per square mile (210/km²). However, residents live closer together than the census numbers indicate, as 30% of the county is reserved as parkland. The racial makeup of the county was 76.91% White, 10.98% Black or African American, 0.24% Native American, 5.52% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 3.78% from other races, and 2.51% from two or more races. 10.18% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 16.6% were of Italian, 14.5% Irish, 5.8% West Indian, 5.7% American and 5.3% German ancestry according to Census 2000. 9.17% reported speaking Spanish at home, 4.96% Yiddish, 3.16% French-based creole, 1.45% Italian, 1.30% Tagalog, 1.25% Hebrew, 1.17% French, and 1.01% Russian. Other languages spoken at home by at least 1000 people include Malayalam, Korean, Chinese, German, and Polish.[1]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the racial composition of Rockland County in 2008 was as follows:

• White: 80.3% (Whites of non-Hispanic origin: 68.3%)
• Black: 11.4%
• American Indian: 0.4%
• Asian: 6.3%
• Pacific Islander: 0.2%
• Multiracial: 1.4%

• Hispanics and Latinos (of any race): 13.6%

^[7]

In 2000 there were 92,675 households out of which 37.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.80% were married couples living together, 10.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.40% were non-families. 19.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.01 and the average family size was 3.47.

In the county the population was spread out with 28.00% under the age of 18, 7.90% from 18 to 24, 28.00% from 25 to 44, 24.30% from 45 to 64, and 11.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 95.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $75,306, and the median income for a family was $86,624. Males had a median income of $58,214 versus $43,955 for females. The per capita income for the county was $31,680. The mean, or average, income for a family in Rockland County is $102,542 according to the 2004 census. About 6.30% of families and 9.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.30% of those under age 18 and 7.60% of those age 65 or over.

Communities in Rockland

County map, with town and village boundaries.

The Manhattan skyline is visible from many high points in the county, such as this view from Nordkop Mountain in Suffern

Paul W. Adler, the chairperson of the Rockland County's Jewish Community Relations Council said in a 1997 The New York Times article that "There are two reasons villages get formed in Rockland. One is to keep the Hasidim out and the other is to keep the Hasidim in."^[8]

Towns

There are five towns in Rockland County. The most populous is Ramapo with 108,900 people, while the least populous is Stony Point with 14,200 people. Clarkstown, Haverstraw and Orangetown all come in between with a range of 33,800—82,000 people.

In 2010 CNNMoney.com named Clarkstown the 41^st best small "city" to live in America, which was the highest such ranking in New York.^[9]

Incorporated villages

There are nineteen incorporated villages in Rockland County, twelve of which are located at least partially in the town of Ramapo:

There are no villages in the town of Stony Point.

Unincorporated hamlets

Rockland County has a number of unincorporated hamlets, including:

Historical settlements

During the 19th century, the following settlements existed in these towns.

Thomas C. Durant

• Clarkstown
  • Cedar Grove Corner - North of the hamlet of Rockland Lake, East of New City.
  • Clarksville - Renamed Nyack Turnpike, then Mont Moor and presently West Nyack.
  • Durant - small settlement of private residences one mile (1.6 km) south of New City. In the 1900s, a railroad station named after Thomas C. Durant, organizer and builder of the Union Pacific Railroad, was the third stop of the New Jersey & New York Railroad. Durant's daughter, Heloise Durant Rose was the founder of the Rockland County Welfare Society and ot the Dante League of America.
  • Dutch - North of Nanuet, South of Spring Valley
  • Kakiat (Hackyackawet)- East of Mechanicsville/Viola, West of New City.
  • Quaspeck - Located at the foot of Hook Mountain at the southern end of Rockland Lake. The Original patent, which included 5,000 acres (20 km²) is dated 1694. The creation of Rockland Lake State Park ended the community.
  • Rockland Lake - Formerly known as Slaughterer's Landing. A thriving Community in Rockland Lake State Park made up of the many workers at the Knickerbocker Ice Company which owned numerous pieces of property. The hamlet included a number of hotels, Knickerbocker Fire House - established 1862, school, stores and the stone-crushing mill.
  • Sickletown - A hamlet named after the Sickles family located along the east and west side of Sickletown Road, also named after them. A few of the sandstone homes, mostly Pre-Revolutionary, built by the members of the Sickles family remain.

• Haverstraw
  • Archerville - Later changed to Samsondale. North of Haverstraw Village, South of Bensons Corners. Samsondale Iron Works was established in 1832.
  • Bensons Corners - North of Garnerville.
  • Diamond Valley - A farming community southeast of Johnsontown.
  • Johnsontown (Town of West Haverstraw) - Founded in the late 1700s by the Johnson brothers who came to the mountain area looking for timber to use for shipbuilding. It stretched along what is now known as Lake Sebago and Lake Kanawauke making it the largest settlement in the western part of the state park.
  • Meads Corner - South of Garnerville.

Sneden's Landing

Mollie Sneden's house

• Orangetown
  • Middletown - A hamlet midway between the pioneers settled at Ramapo and Tappan.
  • Muddy Brook - Pearl River proper.
  • Orangeville Mills - Orangeville was a hamlet 2 miles (3.2 km) west from Blauvelt, formerly known as Blauveltville.
  • Pascack - A hamlet, often called "South Spring Valley" settled in the first half of the 18^th century.
  • Sneden's Landing - Now known as Palisades. Mollie Sneden operated her ferry service from here during the Revolutionary War.
  • Upper Grandview

• Ramapo
  • Alexis Station - Hamlet.
  • Bulsontown - Hamlet.
  • Cassady's Corners - South of Mechanicsville/Viola.
  • Forshays Corners - North of Viola.
  • Furmanville - North of Sherwoodville, South of Ladentown.
  • Mechanicsville - Present-day Viola.
  • Ladentown - 18^th century settlement within the Village of Pomona.
  • Pine Meadow - Present site of Pine Meadows Lake. Mostly heavy forest, boulders, swamps and streams. Community, southeast of Johnsontown, populated mainly by farmers, wood-cutters and basket-weavers. James H. Conklin built a cabin which was posted as a historic site before it was vandalized and ultimately destroyed. Only the root cellar remains.
  • Sandyfield - was submerged when swampy Beaver Pond was dammed to create Lake Welch by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission.
  • Sherwoodville - North of Mechanicsville/Viola in the Village of Montebello.
  • Saint John's-in-the-Wilderness - Located about a mile from Sandyfield. It once was a thriving mission established in 1880. It is the only private land within the Harriman State Park.
  • Sterlington - One mile east of Sloatsburg. The name was adopted when the post office opened in 1882. The Sterling Mountain Railway transported ore to the furnaces at Sterling which was known as Sterling Junction or Pierson's Depot. Sterlington ceased when the railway ceased operation.
  • Woodburn - Hamlet.
  • Woodtown - Founded in the early 18^th century. Between Pine Meadow and Ladentown, southeast of Johnsontown.

• Stony Point

Iona Island

• • Caldwells Landing - Formerly known as Gibraltar. North of Tomkins Cove, South of Iona Island.
  • Doodletown (Town of Stony Point) in Harriman State Park is now a ghost town.
  • Grassy Point - Renamed North Haverstraw on August 21^st, 1834. Renamed back to Grassy Point on September 10^th, 1836. The 1939 3-cent United States postage stamp commemorates the hundredth anniversary of baseball depicting the old baseball diamond at Grassy Point. The background of the stamp shows St. Joseph's Church and the Grassy Point school which was one of the last one-room schools in Rockland closing in 1963.
  • Iona Island (I own an island) - Formerly known as Waggons (Weyant's) Island. It is said that it has always been a "picnic and pleasure ground visited annually by thousands from New York and other neighboring cities". Access now restricted by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission.
  • Jones Point - a hamlet located in the town of Stony Point.
  • Mountville - An alternate name for the southern end of Doodletown. West of Stony Point.
  • Willow Grove - Contains part of the former New York State Letchworth Village facility.

Communities of significant population

According to the 2000 census, these nine Rockland communities have a population exceeding 10,000 people:

Wealthiest Communities

According to the 2000 census, these three Rockland communities have a median household income of $100,000 a year or more:

• Grand View-on-Hudson, a village with a median household income = $130,747
• Montebello, a village with a median household income = $116,600
• Pomona, a village with a median household income = $103,608

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

There are eight school districts in Rockland

See also....

Private schools

Private Schools

• Orthodox Jewish yeshivas.
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York operates Catholic schools^[10]
• Rockland Country Day School (Congers), Private coed college-preparatory school that serves students in Pre-K through 12th grade.
• Green Meadow Waldorf School (Chestnut Ridge) Pre-kindergarten through 12th grade Waldorf school.
• St.Margaret's School, Catholic School, 2009 Middle States Accredited for four years in a row.

Colleges and adult education centers - (Chestnut Ridge)

• Sunbridge College, a Waldorf teacher training college
• School of Eurythmy, a movement arts training in Eurythmy
• The Pfeiffer Center, a biodynamic gardening and agricultural training center
• The Threefold Educational Center, an educational trust

Blue Ribbon Award

Blue Ribbon Schools Program

The Blue Ribbon Award, which is part of the No Child Left Behind program, is considered to be the highest honor that an American school can achieve.

• Liberty Elementary School (2000-2001) (Valley Cottage)
• Strawtown Elementary School (2007) (West Nyack)
• Franklin Avenue School (2008) (Pearl River)
• George W. Miller Elementary School (2009) (Nanuet)

Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is administered by the Baldrige National Quality Program which is managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of, the U.S. Department of Commerce. This annual award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence.

• Pearl River School District (2001) (education)

Schools with Planetariums

A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. There are presently three schools in Rockland County featuring state of the art planetariums.

• Clarkstown High School South
• North Rockland High School
• Suffern High School

Post-Secondary Schools

• Alliance Theological Seminary-Alliance Graduate School of Counseling (See Nyack College)
• Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (Palisades)
• Cornell Cooperative Extension (Thiells) Program through Cornell University.

Daniel T. Brucker Hall at SUNY Rockland Community College

Sports in Rockland County

2010 - Former Yankee catcher John Flaherty of Pearl River and Clarkstown resident Michael Aglialoro, a businessman are currently negotiating with the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball to bring a team to a new 3,500-seat stadium outside Pomona.
Rockland Baseball

Hospitals in Rockland County

Transportation in Rockland County

Bus

TOR & TZX Exprees

The Transport of Rockland is the bus system providing service along major routes in Rockland County as well as connections to other community bus operations - (Minitrans) and connections to Rockland Coaches and Short Line routes providing service to Northern New Jersey and New York City.

Monsey Trails is a privately operated, publicly subsidized bus service connecting Monsey, in Rockland County, to Manhattan and Brooklyn. It is an unusual service in that its service is focused on geographic areas occupied large numbers of Chasidic Jews and its schedules vary significantly based on the Jewish calendar.^{[11][12][13][14]}

Brega Transport Corp provide free shuttle service between the main campus of Rockland Community College in Viola and the Haverstraw and Spring Valley extensions to evening students during the Fall and Spring semesters.

Railroad

Pascack Valley Line

New Jersey Transit/Metro-North Railroad - Port Jervis Line which stop at the Suffern Railroad Station and Pascack Valley Line which stops include Pearl River, Nanuet and Spring Valley in their respective hamlets and village of the same name.

Historic Railroads

Back in the 1800s railroads, freight and passenger lines, were instrumental for the development, growth and prosperity of Rockland County. Many of the hamlets and villages were built near the Depots. Most of the Post Offices were built near the stations. Passengers traveling to New York City would board steamers at Piermont.

West Shore & Buffalo Railroad

Pearl River Railroad Station

(A) The New Jersey & New York Railroad - 1875 (B) New City Branch NJ&NY Railroad (C) Erie Railroad Piermont Branch (D) Northern Railroad of NJ (E) New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railroad (F) Main Line

Admiral Richard E. Bennis" at Haverstraw

Ferry

NY Waterway operates a ferry service between Haverstraw and Ossining in Westchester County for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Historic Steamboat

Chrystenah handbill

Chrystenah at Rockland Lake

Steamer Hendrick Hudson on the Hudson River

International Airports near Rockland

• New York - John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Stewart International Airport
• New Jersey - Newark Liberty International Airport

Roads in Rockland County

CR 1

• List of county routes in Rockland County, New York
• List of county routes in Rockland County, New York (1-38)
• List of county routes in Rockland County, New York (41-75)
• List of county routes in Rockland County, New York (76-118A)

NY 17 NY 45 NY 59 NY 106 NY 210 NY 303 NY 304 NY 306

US 9W US 202 US 340 I-87/I-287/NYST PIP GSP

Roads in New York Counties

• County routes in New York

Twin/Sister cities

Rockland County has been paired with San Marcos and Huehuete, Nicaragua as its Sister City. The Rockland County Sister City Project with San Marcos and Huehuete, Nicaragua, is coordinated by Cleta Ciulla of Nyack, New York. Since 1990, the organization has collected donated clothes, bicycles and other useful things for our Nicaraguan partners in community development. Fundraising consists of donations and yardsales. Participants travel regularly to Nicaragua to review project details and community needs.

Additionally, the town of Ramapo is twinned with a number of cities.

Media

• ZipRockland.com [2]
• The Journal News [3]
• Our Town
• WRCR AM 1300 [4]
• Rockland County Times [5]
• Rockland Review [6]
• The Hook [7]
• Rockland County's Best Magazine [8]
• Clipper

Rockland County Libraries

Library Association of Rockland County

Art Gallery

The following artist studied at the Hudson River School

• Jasper Francis Cropsey (February 18, 1823 – April 23, 1900)

Gates of the Hudson

Looking North on the Hudson

Autumn in America

High Torne Mountain

On the Hudson River

The Hudson at Piermont

The Hudson at the Tappan Zee

Hudson River Scene

Hudson River Landscape

First Snow Along the Hudson River

Harriman New York Overlooking the Hudson

Sunny Morning on the Hudson River

Anthony's Nose on Hudson

A Morning Snow Hudson River

Indian Summer Hudson River

Approaching Thunderstorm on the Hudson River

Figures in a Hudson River Landscape

Along The Hudson

Books and publications

• Anderson, Jane McDill., Rocklandia: A collection of facts and fancies, legends and ghost stories of Rockland County life 1977
• Baracks, Clarence., Growing up in New City, New York in the early 1920s
• Bedell, Cornelia F., (Compiled and privately printed) Now and then and long ago in Rockland County Copyyright 1968, Historical Society of Rockland County.
• Budke, George H., Rockland County during the American Revolution, 1776 - 1781. New York. The Rockland County Public Librarians Association. 1976
• Cohen, David Steven The Ramapo Mountain People Rutgers University Press 1974
• Cole, David D.D., History of Rockland County: ([New York) 1976, Historical Society of Rockland County.
• Gonyea, Maryellen., Stony Point in Words and Pictures, ed. NCL RR 974.728 STO
• Gottlock, Barbara H., Gottlock Wesley., New York's Palisades Interstate Park (NY) (Images of America)
• Green, Frank Bertangue. MD., The History of Rockland County:
• Knight, Robert P., Centennial history of Pearl River, New York Pearl River Centennial Committee 1973
• Kuykendall, Eugene L., Historic Sloatsburg, 1738–1998, The Way it Was, Is and Can Be, Sloatsburg Historical Society, 1998.
• Lucanera, Viola M., The role of Orangetown in the Revolution (Rockland County bicentennial publication)
• Penford, Saxby Vouler., The first hundred years of Spring Valley: Written in commemoration of the Spring Valley Centennial, 1842-1942 (Social Science Research Foundation. Publications)
• Pritchard, Evan T., Native New Yorkers: The Legacy of the Algonquin People of New York. published by Council Oak Books, 2002 ISBN 1-57178-107-2
• Scott, John A Short history of the West Nyack Area The West Nyack free library, June 7^th 1970.
• Smeltzer-Stevenot, Marjorie., Footprints in the Ramapos: Life in the Mountains Before the State Parks
• Stalter Elizabeth., Doodletown: Hiking through history in a vanished hamlet on the Hudson
• Talman, Wilfred Blanch., How things began in Rockland and places nearby
• Talman, Wilfred Blanch., Fabend, Firth Haring Ed. Tappan, 300 Years, 1686-1986 Tappantown Historical Society, (1989)
• Watts, Gardner F., A short history of Suffern and the Ramapaugh area: With emphasis on Revolutionary days and ways (Rockland County bicentennial publication) (1972)
• Zimmerman, Linda., Rockland County: Century of History
• Zimmerman, Linda., Rockland County Scrapbook Published by Eagle Press, 2004
• American Revolution Bicentennial Committee of Sloatsburg: Bicentennial History of Sloatsburg, New York 1776-1976,
• America's Bicentennial, 1776-1976, Haverstraw Commemorative Edition. [NCL 974.728 HAV].
• Celebrate Clarkstown 1791-1991. Clarkstown, New York: Clarkstown Bicentennial Commission, 1991.
• The Nyacks Historical Society of the Nyacks and the Nyack Library, Arcadia Publishing of Maine October, 2005
• Nyack in the 20th Century: A Centennial Journal by the Historical Society of the Nyacks, published in 2000
• Suffern: 200 years, 1773-1973 Bicentennial Committee, Suffern, New York Published in 1973.
• Portrait of West Nyack S-E-A-R-C-H Foundation of West Nyack, N.Y. 10994 LIC 73-83686 Zingaro Printing Corporation - 1973.

See also

• Downstate New York
• Hudson Valley
• List of New York State Historic Markers in Rockland County, New York
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Rockland County, New York
• Ramapough Mountain Indians
• Rumachenanck (Native Americans)

References

External links

• Dunderberg Spiral Railway
• Early history summary of Rockland County
• Knickerbocker Ice Festival
• Library Association of Rockland County Digital Collections
• Preserve America Community
• Railroad Historical Information
• Rockland's College Campuses
• Rockland County elected officials
• Rockland County Markers
• Rockland County official website
• Rockland History
• ZipRockland.com - Website dedicated to everything Rockland County
• iloverockland.com
• Rockland Review weekly newspaper
• Rockland County Times Official RC Newspaper since 1888

• Rockland County at the Open Directory Project

		Orange County	Putnam County
	Passaic County, New Jersey		Westchester County
		Rockland County, New York
		Bergen County, New Jersey

Municipalities and communities of Rockland County, New York County seat: New City Towns Clarkstown | Haverstraw | Orangetown | Ramapo | Stony Point Villages Airmont | Chestnut Ridge | Grand View-on-Hudson | Haverstraw | Hillburn | Kaser | Montebello | New Hempstead | New Square | Nyack | Piermont | Pomona | Sloatsburg | South Nyack | Spring Valley | Suffern | Upper Nyack | Wesley Hills | West Haverstraw CDPs Bardonia | Blauvelt | Congers | Hillcrest | Monsey | Mount Ivy | Nanuet | New City | Orangeburg | Pearl River | Stony Point | Tappan | Thiells | Valley Cottage | Viola | West Nyack Other hamlets Centenary | Central Nyack | Doodletown | Garnerville | Grassy Point | Johnsontown | Jones Point | Ladentown | Middletown | Nauraushaun | Palisades | Rockland Lake | Sandyfield | Sickletown | Sparkill | St. John's in the Wilderness | Sterlington | Tallman | Tomkins Cove

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