Ramapo Town, New York
| Ramapo, New York | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
U.S. Post Office in Suffern
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 Location in Rockland County and the state of New York. |
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| Coordinates: 41°7′19″N 74°5′0″W / 41.12194°N 74.08333°WCoordinates: 41°7′19″N 74°5′0″W / 41.12194°N 74.08333°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| County | Rockland |
| Government | |
| • Supervisor | Christopher St. Lawrence |
| Area | |
| • Total | 61.9 sq mi (160.4 km2) |
| • Land | 61.2 sq mi (158.6 km2) |
| • Water | 0.7 sq mi (1.8 km2) |
| Elevation | 371 ft (113 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 126,595 |
| • Estimate (2014) | 133,351 |
| • Density | 2,000/sq mi (790/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 10901, 10952, 10977, 10970, 10965, 10974 |
| Area code | 845 |
| FIPS code | 36-60510 |
| GNIS ID | 0979406 |
| Website | ramapo.org |
Ramapo is a town in Rockland County, New York, United States. Ramapo, which means "Sweet Water", was formerly known as New Hempstead. As of the 2010 census, Ramapo had a total population of 126,595. If Ramapo were incorporated as a city, it would be the sixth-largest city in the state of New York.
The city's name, recorded variously as Ramopuck, Ramapock, or Ramapough, is of Lenape origin, meaning either "sweet water" or "slanting rocks". Maps referred to Ramapo as Ramepog - 1695,Ramepogh -1711, and Ramapog - 1775. (Romantic Suffern - Chapter 7)
The town is located south of Haverstraw and west of Clarkstown and Orangetown.
The present-day town was originally inhabited by the Munsee, a band of the Lenape nation. Their descendants now live on Stag Hill in Mahwah, New Jersey, where they form the state (NJ)-recognized Ramapo Lenape Nation.
During the American Revolutionary War, Commander-in-Chief George Washington is said to have climbed the Ramapo Torne (near Sloatsburg) with a telescope to watch the July 24, 1777 sailing of the British fleet off Sandy Hook in New Jersey. General Washington and his troops set up an encampment in Suffern, in the west of Ramapo, due to its strategic location near a local mountain pass. In this encampment were two French soldiers, Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau and Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. The encampment was on the path to Yorktown, Virginia, where the final battle of the American Revolution took place.
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