Rockland County, New York

Rockland County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: New City
Year Organized: 1798
Square Miles: 174

Court House:

1 South Main Street
County Courthouse
New City, NY 10956-3549

Etymology - Origin of County Name

named from "rocky land," an early general term applied to the region by settlers

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Rockland County was formed on 23 Feb 1798 from Orange County. It is across the Hudson River from Westchester County , and is only about 25 miles northwest of New York City. It is on the New Jersey state line, next to Bergen County, NJ.

The great formations of rock that overhang the Hudson, jutting out from the mountainsides and thrusting up through the earth gave Rockland its name. The region became a county in 1798, when it was separated from the County of Orange. Full History at NYSAC

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) of it is land and 25 square miles (65 km²) of it (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 feet). However, nearby Jackie Jones Mountain also has a summit above 390 m (1,280 feet) 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

Neighboring Counties:

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

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

Cities and Towns:

- Airmont	village	Incorporated Area
- Chestnut Ridge	village	Incorporated Area
- Clarkstown	town
- Grand View-on-Hudson	village	Incorporated Area
- Haverstraw	village	Incorporated Area
- Hillburn	village	Incorporated Area
- Kaser	village	Incorporated Area
- Montebello	village	Incorporated Area
- New City (County Seat)
- New Hempstead	village	Incorporated Area
- New Square	village	Incorporated Area
- Nyack	village	Incorporated Area
- Orangetown	town
- Piermont	village	Incorporated Area
- Pomona	village	Incorporated Area
- Ramapo	town
- Sloatsburg	village	Incorporated Area
- South Nyack	village	Incorporated Area
- Spring Valley	village	Incorporated Area
- Stony Point	town
- Suffern	village	Incorporated Area
- Upper Nyack	village	Incorporated Area
- Wesley Hills	village	Incorporated Area
- West Haverstraw	village	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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