Jump Starts in Suffern New York

Suffern is a village that was incorporated in 1796 in the town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. Suffern is located 31 miles northwest of Manhattan. As of the 2020 census, Suffern’s population was 11,441.

“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.^{[failed verification – see discussion][failed verification]} 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.

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