Suffern, NY

“The Point of the Mountains” or “Sidman’s Clove” were names used before the American Revolution to designate the present village of Suffern. The area originally was inhabited by the Ramapough, a tribe of Munsee, who were a division of the Lenape tribe. Upon Sidman’s death, this land passed into the hands of his son-in-law, John Smith, who sold it to John Suffern.

The village of Suffern was founded in 1796. John Suffern, first Rockland County judge, 1798–1806, settled near the base of the Ramapo Mountains in 1773, and called the place New Antrim, after his home in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. His French Huguenot ancestors had settled there after fleeing religious persecution in France. New Antrim’s location was considered strategically important in the Revolutionary War because it was at an important crossroads near Ramapo Pass. General George Washington and other important military leaders used John Suffern’s home as headquarters when they were in the area.

This history has been recognized by the town. Suffern is a stop on the Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail, under the auspices of the National Park Service. This trail commemorates the route followed by General Washington and the French Comte de Rochambeau as they traveled to the siege of Yorktown, Virginia, which led to victory for the United States in gaining independence.

Rochambeau made encampment with his 5,000 soldiers in Suffern on August 25, 1781, on his way to Yorktown, and again on September 13, 1782, as he retraced his steps to New York. An historical marker on the Washington Avenue side of the Lafayette Theatre identifies this site of “Rochambeau’s Encampment 1781–1782”. At the time of the encampment, this site was directly across the road from village founder John Suffern’s home and tavern where the Count de Rochambeau stayed. The Suffern Furniture Company is now located where this house once stood.

During the war, Commander-in-Chief General Washington and his regiment made camp in the village several times. Lafayette Avenue, the main street of Suffern, is named in honor of Revolutionary War hero Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, better known as the Marquis de Lafayette.

Other guests who took advantage of Suffern’s hospitality included Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Burr, who later became the third Vice President of the United States; General George Clinton, who became the first (and longest-serving) elected Governor of New York, as well as the fourth Vice President of the United States (under both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison); and Alexander Hamilton, first United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Washington.

From Suffern to Monroe was a main route of travel through the western Hudson Highlands. The main road was the Albany Post Road, one of the oldest roads in the state, which served as the stagecoach line between Albany and New York City . Once the Hudson River froze in winter, the Post Road was heavily traveled as an alternate. The 20 miles (32 km) of road through Ramapo Pass was later developed as the Orange Turnpike (now known as Route 17). Tolls were collected from 1800 until 1886 to maintain and improve the road. The New York State Thruway now runs through the pass. The south entrance to the town was garrisoned during the Revolution, with General Washington ordering as many as 400 soldiers to be stationed there at all times.

The first railroad line across Rockland County, the Erie Railroad, was built in 1841 and ran from Piermont to Ramapo. By 1851, the line was extended to Lake Erie, and was considered an engineering marvel. The tracks are now owned by the Norfolk Southern line. In consideration for the right-of-way given it by Judge Edward Suffern, son of founder John, to lay track across his 6 miles (10 km) of land, the Erie Railroad named their depot “Suffern’s Station.” The village became known as Suffern, not New Antrim, as it had been called by John Suffern.

In 1897, Avon Products, known then as California Perfume Company, built a 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) laboratory in Suffern. By 1971 the lab had been expanded into the 323,000-square-foot (30,000 m2) Avon Suffern Research and Development facility. In late 2005, construction was finished on a state-of-the art, 225,000-square-foot (20,900 m2) facility that would become Avon’s global hub for research and development. The new building was constructed on the same site as their previous R&D facility, which was demolished for site parking.

In 1916, what would become New York State Route 59, which reached from Nyack to Spring Valley in 1915, was extended to Suffern and Ramapo Hamlet.

In 1924, the Lafayette Theatre, named for the Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de Lafayette, opened its doors.

In 1972, the Salvation Army moved their School for Officer Training to a 30-acre (120,000 m2) site in Suffern. They took over the former Catholic School for Holy Children.

Novartis had a manufacturing facility in Suffern, employing approximately 525 workers. In January 2014, the company announced closure of this facility by 2017, citing loss of patent exclusivity on Diovan as a major factor in the decision. The facility was engaged in the “production of tablets, capsules, vials and inhalation products”.

Avon’s Global Research and Development facility is located in Suffern, employing 350 scientists and technicians in developing cosmetics.

• Rochambeau Encampment, Lafayette and Washington avenues
• Soldier’s Monument, also known as Washington Ave. Monument, Washington and Lafayette avenues (NRHP)
• Suffern’s Depot, 1 Erie Plaza
• Suffern Grammar School, 41 Wayne Avenue
• Suffern’s Sacred Heart Parish, 129 Lafayette Avenue
• Suffern’s Tavern Site, Washington and Lafayette avenues – Suffern’s tavern sheltered many Continental Army officers, including Gen. Washington and Aaron Burr, commander of the troops guarding the Ramapo Pass. Torn down about 1856.

• Brooklands Park – Lake Road – Site of Brooklands, home of Daniel Carter Beard, a founder of Boy Scouts of America.
• Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area – Suffern is a designated gateway to the HRVNHA.
• Lafayette Theatre – 97 Lafayette Avenue. Rockland’s only surviving movie palace, opened in 1924, and having a renovated 1931 Wurlitzer pipe organ installed by the American Theatre Organ Society in 1992.
• Suffern Free Library – 210 Lafayette Avenue. The Ramapo Room contains historical books, clippings and photographs of western Ramapo.
• Suffern Railroad Museum – 1 Erie Plaza
• Suffern Village Museum – 61 Washington Avenue – Exhibits relating to the history of Suffern and the Ramapo area. Includes displays relating to American Indians, original Avon products, nearby iron mines, and Dan Beard, one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America. Traveling Trunk program is available for classroom use.
• U.S. Post Office – Built during the New Deal, is located on Chestnut Street between NY 59 and US 202, on the northern edge of the village’s downtown business district. (NRHP)
• Washington Avenue Soldier’s Monument and Triangle – Washington Avenue (NRHP)
• Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route

Suffern Middle School is the junior high school of the Suffern Central School District (SCSD), and is located in the village Montebello, adjacent to Suffern. The 1,200 grade 6-8 students educated there hail from Airmont, Suffern, Montebello, Hillburn, Sloatsburg and parts of Monsey.

The village is home to Richard P. Connor Elementary School, also part of SCSD. Viola Elementary School is located in the neighboring CDP of Viola. High school students are zoned to Suffern High School.

In 2013, Cherry Lane Elementary School, located in the neighboring Village of Airmont and part of SCSD, became one of the Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award winners awarded by the U.S. Department of Education.

Rockland Community College, part of the SUNY system, is located just outside the village limits.

Suffern station serves both local and express trains, operated by New Jersey Transit to Hoboken Terminal with connecting service at Secaucus Junction to New York’s Pennsylvania Station. Most New Jersey Transit Main Line trains terminate at Suffern; some Bergen County Line trains also terminate at Suffern; and Metro-North Railroad’s Port Jervis Line trains continue into Orange County to Port Jervis. Transport of Rockland buses serve Suffern, as do the Bergen County routes of Coach USA ShortLine.

U.S. Route 202, New York State Route 59, Interstate 287, and Interstate 87, also known as the New York State Thruway, go through Suffern.