PIERMONT

A short history of Piermont

Sparkill Creek cuts through the north end of the Hudson Palisades, providing easy access to the fertile valley of the unnavigable upper Hackensack River. "Tappan Landing," "Tappan Slote", or "Taulman Landing," as the little port on the Hudson River was called, thus became the original port for southern Orange County. The valley in the Palisades created by the creek also provided an obvious route for the Erie Railroad's first-built line (now known as the Piermont Branch), which originated at Suffern, New York, to reach eastward to the Hudson (with water connection to New York City). The railroad built a long pier into the river near the creek in 1839 as its principal terminal. The pier and the nearby mountains suggested a new name for the community, which was incorporated as a village in 1850. During World War II the pier was the ferry terminal to which troops from Camp Shanks marched in order to be transported to New York Port of Embarkation piers for transfer to overseas transports bound for the European Theater. A memorial plaque notes that history at the pier.

Late in the 20th century, Piermont became a modest tourist attraction for day-trippers from New York City, particularly those bicycling on Bike Route 9.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Piermont, New York, revision 1377370344 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.