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Happy Birthday Sloatsburg – unless you count all the way back

Posted on 07 October 2016 by Editor

Sloatsburg old main drag -- along Rt. 17 in 1929. The village celebrates 85 years as an official village in the Town of Ramapo.

Sloatsburg old main drag — along Rt. 17 in 1929. The village celebrates 87 years as an official village in the Town of Ramapo.

Recent data has shown that the human body just can’t be expected to continue past 125 years, which is about what the oldest person recorded lived to be — outside of your biblical begats, of course.

Well, hopefully the Village of Sloatsburg has many more good years ahead of it. At 87 years old today, October 7, Sloatsburg was officially incorporated in 1929 — just days ahead of and only miles away from the epic-center of Wall Street and the crash of October.

Happy Birthday Sloatsburg – though official Village history goes back to the Dutch days in 1738 when Dutch settler Wynant Van Gelder purchased a tract of land called Pothat from the local Indians, most likely Ramapough Lenape. That tract was to become the village of Sloatsburg.

Van Gelder deeded the land to his brother-in-law, Isaac Van Duzer (Van Deursen). Van Duzer in turn deeded the property in 1763 to his son-in-law, Stephen Sloat, who married  “Martha” Van Duzer. — from Sloatsburg history

Old bridge crossing the #Ramapo River. #carlife

A photo posted by TorneApart (@torneapart) on

Hat tip to Kato, who runs the local Rockland history sitewho wrote in to remind that, well, today is your birthday Sloatsburg. Unless, of course, you count back to the Dutch days and Stephen Sloat in 1763.

Remember, SVdotcom is independent of and does not represent the Village. Thought to throw that in so some of you don’t get thrown.

Sloatsburg is many things to its residents but in the end it is a little village nestled in the foothills of the Ramapo Mountains at the southern tip of Harriman State Park that is on the cusp of some very good things.

And right below is the million dollar view from atop Torne Mountain, where you can see both far Manhattan and Sloatsburg below.

 

 

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