Blauvelt State Park
| Blauvelt State Park | |
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 Location of Blauvelt State Park within New York State
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| Type | State park (undeveloped) |
| Location | Greenbush Road Blauvelt, New York |
| Nearest city | Nyack, New York |
| Coordinates | 41°04′48″N 73°56′15″W / 41.0799°N 73.9376°WCoordinates: 41°04′48″N 73°56′15″W / 41.0799°N 73.9376°W |
| Area | 644 acres (2.61 km2) |
| Operated by | |
| Visitors | 24,529 (in 2014) |
| Open | All year |
| Website | Blauvelt State Park |
Blauvelt State Park is a 644-acre (2.61 km2) undeveloped state park located in the Town of Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, near the Hudson River Palisades. The park's land occupies the site of the former Camp Bluefields, a rifle range used to train members of the New York National Guard prior to World War I. The park is located south of Nyack.
Prior to becoming Blauvelt State Park, the property was known as Camp Bluefields, a large rifle range used primarily to train members of the New York National Guard. The rifle range occupied 335 acres (1.36 km2) of land and was touted in 1910 as being the largest in the country. The range's location was criticized almost immediately, and complaints of stray bullets being encountered in nearby residential areas were registered even before the range's official completion. The rifle range operated from soon after the state's initial purchase of the land in 1909 until its administration was transferred to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission in 1913.
In the years that followed, Camp Bluefields was used as a YWCA summer camp for New York City working women, an ROTC training camp, a Columbia University summer camp, and as a destination for participants in the Fresh Air Fund. In 1930, the camp resumed military use by the U.S. Army, who used the property for training programs that year. In 1942, soldiers from Camp Shanks used the property as a training grounds, and it was used as an air raid post during World War II.
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