Ramapo Valley
Historic New York
The steep, barren Ramapo Mountains, with elevations of less than 1300 feet, isolated this region from the mainstream of developments in the Hudson Valley. The Ramapo River, flowing from Round Lake near Monroe into New Jersey, provided a natural route through the mountains, and the path of a Delaware Indian trail. Permanent settlement in the valley, beginning about 1710, was slow until after 1740.
During the American Revolution, American forces defended the strategic Ramapo Pass to forestall British advances. From the Ramapos, Claudius Smith, a Tory brigand, made raids on patriot settlements. Following the war, some Tories, Hessians, Dutch, Negroes and Indians sought refuge in the mountains. Their descendants lived in seclusion in the Ramapo wilderness, largely cut off, until World War II, from developments around them.
Sterling Iron Works, dating from 1751, produced during the American Revolution the iron chain used to obstruct British progress up the Hudson. Iron foundries, cotton mills and small industries developed in the valley. Following arrival of the Erie Railroad in 1841, the area became a source of vegetables and dairy products for New York City. Many fashionable estates appeared in the vicinity. Recently the region has become one of suburban communities.
Marker is on New York State Thruway (Interstate 87), on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
