Buying a Home in Town of Ramapo, New York

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Town of Ramapo is located in Rockland County

Town of Ramapo

Sprawling, ethnically and racially diverse, and teeming with villages, the Town of Ramapo, about 30 miles northwest of New York City, is a mixture of parkland, suburban tracts, high-density enclaves, and bustling shopping centers.

Ramapo is the largest town in the county and home to more than 110,000 people, more than 1/3 of the county’s population. It is about 89 square miles. Ramapo ranges from the Palisades Interstate Parkway, which occupies one-third of its area in the west, to the long-established, semi-isolated village of Sloatsburg in hilly terrain in the extreme west, to the village of Spring Valley, a traditional downtown center, in the east. The town, which derived its name from a local tribe of American Indians, is home to 12 villages, and efforts are under way to form six more.

The original farmlands are mostly gone, doomed by the NYS Thruway and the Tappan Zee Bridge, which opened in 1955, and by the George Washington Bridge and the Palisades Interstate Parkway, which serve as conduits from Manhattan and New Jersey. There is railway service as well, making Ramapo a convenient bedroom community for New York City.

Recently, the population has swelled with the addition of a wide ethnic mix – Israeli, Hispanic, Indian, Pakistani, Vietnamese, Chinese, Polish, Russian, Haitian, and Eastern European Hasidic Jews – making Ramapo the most diverse community in Rockland County. Ramapo’s multicultural uniqueness can be easily observed by anyone taking a short drive along Route 59. There, the high energy of urban Spring Valley gives way eventually to the quaint charm of Suffern’s downtown. Numerous restaurants offering distinct cuisines lie along the way. The rest of the town’s villages can be found at points diverging from that central thoroughfare.

Ramapo is also rich in culture. The Lafayette Theatre, built in 1924, was renovated to highlight its history as an early 20^th century movie palace. It is also home to the Antrim Playhouse, a regional theatre company. Meanwhile, Airmont’s Lower Hudson Valley Challenger Center is delighting and intriguing young minds from the area, as it affords students the chance to simulate space flight and hone math skills. Older students pursue educational advancement at Rockland Community College, which boasts a nationally recognized Honors Program.

Ramapo residents have ample opportunities for relaxation, as the town abounds with indoor and outdoor activities, including adult and youth parks, full-service recreation centers for a variety of sports, neighborhood arbors, and the critically acclaimed town-owned Spook Rock Golf Course.

There are two school districts in the Town of Ramapo – the East Ramapo Central School District and the Ramapo Central School District. Both provide an excellent education for their diverse populations.

The township has three public libraries – the Finkelstein Memorial Library in Spring Valley, the Sloatsburg Public Library in Sloatsburg, and the newly built Suffern Free Library in Suffern that even has a coffee bar. All are members of the Greater Hudson Valley/ Catskill Library system.

This year, Money Magazine named Ramapo the second-most desirable place to live amongst towns in the east with populations of more than 100,000. 

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