Sloatsburg Map
Sloatsburg is a village in the town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located east of Orange County, New York and sits at the southern entrance to Harriman State Park. The population was 3,117 at the 2000 census. The village is named after Stephen Sloat, an early landowner.
Sloatsburg, originally Pothat, is named after the Sloat family, having settled in area about 1760. Jacob Sloat, a mechanical genius, opened a mill in 1815 for making cotton cloth. He successfully turned to making exclusively cotton twine after patenting a process for dressing it in 1840. At peak, he produced around 8,000 lbs. per week. The mill ceased operations in 1878. The original Sloat stone house was a tavern, a regular stop on the New York to Albany stage route, and during the American Revolution, it was headquarters for American troops stationed in the Ramapo Pass. The house is a private residence, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The land that would become the village of Sloatsburg was part of the hunting grounds of the Minsi tribe of the Leni Lenape Indians. The area was also the site of a major Indian path through the Ramapo Mountains. The path would subsequently become the New York to Albany road and, in 1800, the Orange Turnpike; it remains an important thoroughfare today—the New York State Thruway, New York Route 17 and the Norfolk Southern Railway line run along its route.
Nearby cities include Saddle River, Franklin Lakes, Nanuet, New City, Waldwick.