1893 Map of Ramapo

About this map

The Ramapo Mountains dominate this late nineteenth-century landscape, acting as a natural divide between the rugged uplands and the developing valley settlements to the southeast. The New York Lake Erie and Western Railroad snakes through the narrow gap carved by the Ramapo River, anchoring a string of vital junctions and whistle-stops including Sloatsburg, Ramapo, and Suffern. In the lowlands, a dense network of smaller communities like Spring Valley and Monsey are interconnected by the Piermont Branch, illustrating a period when rail transit dictated the growth of local economies.