About

Suffern is a village incorporated in 1796 in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States.
Suffern NY is designated as a gateway to the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.

Education

Suffern Middle School is the junior high school of the Suffern Central School District (SCSD), and is located in the Village of Montebello, adjacent to Suffern. It educates students from Airmont, Suffern, Montebello, Hillburn, Sloatsburg and parts of Monsey. It educates around 1,200 students in grades 6-8. A variety of subjects in the arts can be learned here, including band, orchestra, keyboard music, digital music, guitar, performance arts, and media arts. The middle school offers four languages: Chinese, Spanish, French, and Italian. The honors program begins at the seventh grade level and teaches advanced math and science to qualified students. There are many sports available at this school, and all home games are played at the school’s large sports stadium, consisting of 2 AstroTurf fields, 2 soccer fields, a softball field, and a baseball field. A variety of sports are available for seventh and eighth grade students to play in three seasons; Fall, Winter and Spring. In the Fall, there is girls swimming, co-ed cross-country, boys and girls soccer, girls volleyball, and girls field hockey. In the wintertime, students can play girls and boys basketball, boys swimming (high-school team), and the co-ed ski team (high-school team). During the spring there is a co-ed track and field team and boys baseball team, among other sports. Many after-school programs exist, including the Technology Club, movie club, homework help, open gym, 6th grade play, and 7th/8th grade Spring Musical. Suffern Middle School is the first middle school in the world to have established a learning presence in the virtual world of Teen Second Life. The virtual presence is called Ramapo Islands.

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.

Transportation

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.

Historical Markers

    • 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.

    Landmarks and Places of Interest

    • 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 OPEN SATURDAYS 9AM – 1PM MAY – NOVEMBER
    • 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