Doodletown, New York
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Doodletown was an isolated village located in northern Rockland County, New York, United States. Abandoned during the 1960s, it is now part of Bear Mountain State Park. It is a popular destination for hikers, birdwatchers, botanists, and local historians. The former village is now a ghost town.
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[edit] History
The town was first settled in 1762 as a small settlement north of Stony Point. The name is said to derive from the Dutch for "dead valley", with the "town" suffix added later by English settlers. Most settlers worked as loggers and miners, and the remains of the mines are still visible today. There were also small farms and businesses. The town was a crossroads for soldiers during the Revolutionary War during the fighting at Bear Mountain, Stony Point, and other locations along the Hudson River. For this reason, it may have been immortalized in the Revolutionary tune "Yankee Doodle".
In the 1890s, Thomas Edison bought property in Doodletown to prospect for iron ore. Bear Mountain began to be developed as a park in the early 20th century
By the 1920s the town had a school, a church, several small businesses, 2 cemeteries and approximately 70 homes. Many families had lived there for generations, but the mines had been emptied and the town was beginning its decline. During that time, Bear Mountain State Park began to expand by purchasing property from the landowners in Doodletown. By the 1950s, most of the residents had moved away, many to nearby Stony Point or into southern Orange County. Those who refused to sell lost their land through eminent domain, and most of the remaining structures were demolished in the late 1960s. The debris was buried, the roads were closed, and the surrounding woods were allowed to grow over the properties. In the early 1970s, a dam was built on the Timp Brook, and part of the town was submerged. The last remaining building, the stone school house, was kept as a shelter for hikers until vandalism caused the park commission to tear it down in 1980.
[edit] Hiking
Today, many foundations, walls, and staircases are still visible. The town is accessible by foot and many of the surrounding trails are maintained (to varying degrees). The Timp Brook feeds a small reservoir which was created with a dam in the 1970s. The town's cemeteries contain graves ranging from centuries old to much more recent years, as former residents and their relatives can still choose to be buried there. Plaques identifying the structures have been installed by the park service, listing which families owned each property and often showing pictures of what each building looked like before the demolition, and orientation signs are located at intervals throughout the town.
Doodletown can be accessed from several different directions. The simplest and most direct access is from the Route 9W side near Iona Island, following the Cornell Mine Trail to the 1777 East Trail which runs directly into the heart of the town. It may also be approached from the south end of the parking lot at Bear Mountain Inn. Other approaches include from the Palisades Parkway side, taking the Fawn Trail to the Bridle Path, or from Jones Point and over Dunderberg Mountain, taking the Ramapo-Dunderberg trail to the Cornell Mine trail. One may also enter the area from the Long Mountain Parkway side, which is a more direct route to the 1777 West Trail or the Bridle Path.
[edit] References
- Elizabeth "Perk" Stalter (1996). Doodletown: Hiking Through History in a Vanished Hamlet on the Hudson. Palisades Interstate Park Commission Press. ISBN 0-9655737-0-2.
[edit] External links
- NY-NJ-CT Botany Field Guide entry
- Rockland County Audubon Society entry
- Ghosttowns.com entry
- Information on free guided tours
