1.
State park
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State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use state as a political subdivision. State parks are established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest. There are state parks under the administration of the government of each U. S. state, some of the Mexican states, the term is also used in the Australian state of Victoria. The equivalent term used in Canada, Argentina, South Africa, similar systems of local government maintained parks exist in other countries, but the terminology varies. State parks are thus similar to parks, but under state rather than federal administration. Similarly, local government entities below state level may maintain parks, in general, state parks are smaller than national parks, with a few exceptions such as the Adirondack Park in New York and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California. As of 2014, there were 10,234 state park units in the United States, there are some 739 million annual visits to the countrys state parks. The NASPD further counts over 43,000 miles of trail,217,367 campsites, many states include designations beyond state park in their state parks systems. Other designations might be state recreation areas, state beaches, some state park systems include long-distance trails and historic sites. The title of oldest state park in the United States is claimed by Niagara Falls State Park in New York, however several public parks previously or currently maintained at the state level pre-date it. Indian Springs State Park has been operated continuously by the state of Georgia as a park since 1825. In 1864 Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove were ceded by the government to California until Yosemite National Park was proclaimed in 1890. In 1878 Wisconsin set aside a vast swath of its forests as The State Park but, needing money. The first state park with the designation of state park was Mackinac Island State Park in 1895, list of U. S. state parks National Association of State Park Directors Wilderness preservation systems in the United States Ahlgren, Carol. The Civilian Conservation Corps and Wisconsin State Park Development, the State Park Movement in America, A Critical Review excerpt and text search Larson, Zeb. Silver Falls State Park and the Early Environmental Movement, oregon Historical Quarterly 112#1 pp, 34-57 in JSTOR Newton, Norman T. When Forests Trumped Parks, The Maryland Experience, 1906-1950, Maryland Historical Magazine 101#2 pp, 203-224
2.
Valley Cottage, New York
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Valley Cottage is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located northeast of West Nyack, northwest of Central Nyack east of Bardonia, south of Congers, the population was 9,107 at the 2010 census. Valley Cottage is located at 41°7′4″N 73°56′33″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 4.3 square miles, all land. At the census of 2000, there were 9,269 people,3,347 households, the population density was 2,168.7 per square mile. There were 3,410 housing units at a density of 797. 9/sq mi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 82. 16% White,3. 59% African American,0. 09% Native American,9. 81% Asian,0. 13% Pacific Islander,1. 89% from other races, and 2. 34% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6. 71% of the population,23. 8% of all households were made up of individuals and 6. 6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the family size was 3.20. In the CDP, the age distribution of the population shows 20. 9% under the age of 18,6. 5% from 18 to 24,29. 0% from 25 to 44,28. 8% from 45 to 64, the median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 91.7 males, for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.5 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $75,828, males had a median income of $51,718 versus $41,653 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $33,181, about 1. 4% of families and 2. 7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2. 5% of those under age 18 and 1. 7% of those age 65 or over. The first known resident of Valley Cottage was John Ryder, who owned a farm which comprised all or most of the areas school district. The post office was first opened at the Valley Cottage Station in 1892, on Sunday, May 16,2010, a dedication ceremony and celebration was hosted by the Town of Clarkstown for the Valley Cottage Hamlet Green. The town hopes the park become the focal point of the hamlet. On December 7,2010, The Valley Cottage Indians Junior Midgets Small Novice Cheerleading team won the championship at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando. On March 17,2014, the Valley Cottage Fire Department celebrated its 100th anniversary, according to George H. Burkes book Rockland County during the American Revolution, 1776–1781, Valley Cottage was once known as Storms Corner. Valley Cottage Animal Hospital have been an AAHA-accredited hospital since 1989 and is the animal hospital to earn this prestigious designation in the New York metropolitan area. S
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
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Palisades Interstate Park Commission
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The Palisades are the cliffs on the west bank of the Hudson River across from and continuing north of Manhattan Island. The commission consists of ten commissioners, five appointed by each governor, in 1900, George W. Perkins was appointed chairman of the newly formed commission by governor Roosevelt. He hired Major William A. Welch as assistant engineer, and in 1914 named him chief engineer, under Welchs leadership, the Palisades Interstate Park grew from the initial 10, 000-acre Bear Mountain State Park to the more than 40, 000-acre Harriman State Park. By 1919 nearly a million people a year were coming to the park, when work started on the park there were no existing models or precedents for an endeavor of its nature and scope. Welch organized a massive reforestation program, built 23 new lakes,100 miles of drives and 103 childrens camps. He helped found the Palisades Interstate Park Trail Conference, which became the New York–New Jersey Trail Conference. The Palisades Interstate Park was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965, the designated area includes the Palisades Park in New Jersey, the Palisades Park in New York State, and the Tallman Mountain State Park in New York State. The commission also oversees and operates the Palisades Interstate Parkway, built between 1947 and 1958, myles, William J. Harriman Trails, A Guide and History, The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, New York, N. Y.1999. New Jersey Palisades New Jersey Section of Palisades Interstate Park, Trail Details and Info
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Congers, New York
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Congers is an affluent, suburban hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Valley Cottage, east of New City, across Lake DeForest, south of Haverstraw and it lies 19 miles north of New York Citys Bronx boundary. As of the 2010 census, the CDP population was 8,363, Congers is located at 41°8′47″N 73°56′39″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has an area of 3.9 square miles. Congers is adjacent to Rockland Lake State Park, along the Hudson River, as of the census of 2000, there were 8,303 people,2,695 households, and 2,244 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 2,635.9 per square mile, there were 2,743 housing units at an average density of 870. 8/sq mi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 85. 2% White,1. 8% African American,0. 2% Native American,8. 6% Asian,0. 1% Pacific Islander,2. 1% from other races, and 2. 0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7. 6% of the population, estimated median household income in 2008, $99,833 making it one of the highest earning CDPs in the county. 13. 3% of all households were made up of individuals and 5. 1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 3.05 and the average family size was 3.36. In the CDP, the population was out with 26. 1% under the age of 18,6. 9% from 18 to 24,29. 7% from 25 to 44,26. 6% from 45 to 64. The median age was 38 years, for every 100 females there were 95.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.6 males, conger, was settled in the late 17th century by Dutch, German and English settlers and was known as Cedar Grove Corner and then Waldberg, which in German means forest mountain. In the 19th century the Congers railroad station, three churches, a school, the firehouse and the Central and Globe hotels were built, the first floor of the then Globe hotel on the southeastern corner of Congers Road is presently the Last Chance Saloon. The Clarktown Dutch Reformed Church still stands at the corner of Congers Road, Kings Highway was the first major road in the county and for many years the only road from New York to Albany. DeForest Lake, built in 1955/6, was named after Henry L. Deforest, President of the Spring Valley Works, several roads are named after Union Civil War generals, including Grant, Burnside, Sheridan, Sherman, and Rosecrans Avenues. Catholics in Congers were initially attended from St. Peters Church in Haverstraw, Rev. Thomas McGare of St. Peters built St Pauls Church on Lake Road built in the early 1890s. It was Clarkstowns first Catholic church, in 1901 Rev. John A. Nageleisen built mission stations in Rockland Lake, Bardonia, and New City. Gilchrest Road, New York crossing accident Congers has two schools, Congers Elementary and Lakewood Elementary
6.
Clarkstown, New York
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Clarkstown is a town in Rockland County, New York, United States. The town is on the border of the county, located north of the town of Orangetown, east of the town of Ramapo, south of the town of Haverstraw. As of the 2010 census, the town had a population of 84,187. New City makes up about 41. 47% of the towns population, the town of Clarkstown was created in 1791 in Orange County, before Rockland County was formed. The Hudson River defines the border of the town, which is opposite the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 46.9 square miles. The New York State Thruway intersects the Palisades Interstate Parkway in the town, as of the census of 2000, there were 82,082 people,27,697 households, and 21,991 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,129.7 people per square mile, there were 28,220 housing units at an average density of 732.2 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 79. 97% White,7. 87% African American,0. 13% Native American,7. 90% Asian,0. 10% Pacific Islander,1. 99% from other races, and 2. 03% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6. 92% of the population,16. 9% of all households were made up of individuals and 6. 5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.90 and the family size was 3.27. In the town, the population was out with 24. 7% under the age of 18,6. 6% from 18 to 24,28. 3% from 25 to 44,28. 1% from 45 to 64. The median age was 39 years, for every 100 females there were 94.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.3 males, according to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the town was $92,121, and the median income for a family was $104,909. Males had an income of $57,773 versus $40,805 for females. The per capita income for the town was $34,430, about 2. 5% of families and 3. 8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4. 5% of those under age 18 and 3. 4% of those age 65 or over. Clarkstown is the most densely populated town in Rockland County and is home to New City, Clarkstown has more business districts in it than any other town in Rockland County, including the Palisades Center, which is among the largest malls in the world. The Town of Clarkstown has as its chief executive a Town Supervisor, the current Town Supervisor is George Hoehmann
7.
Rockland County, New York
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Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U. S. state of New York, part of the New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY–NJ–PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county seat is New City, the name derives from rocky land, as the area was described by early Dutch and English settlers. Rockland County is the smallest county by area in New York State outside of New York City and it comprises five towns and nineteen incorporated villages, with numerous unincorporated villages and hamlets. Rockland County is designated as a Preserve America Community, and roughly one-third of the county is parkland, the county has the largest Jewish population per capita of any U. S. county, with 31. 4%, or 90,000 residents, being Jewish. Rockland also ranks 9th on the list of counties by median household income in the United States with $75,306 according to the 2000 census. In 2015, Suffern was named as the best place to start a business in New York by NerdWallet, NerdWallet also included the villages of Haverstraw, West Haverstraw and Spring Valley in their report. On February 14,2017 Edwin J. Day, County Executive of Rockland County proclaim February 14,2017 as Rockland County Local History Day, the area that would become Rockland County was originally inhabited by Algonquian-speaking Aboriginals, including Munsees, or Lenni Lenape. The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in the area and these settlers, eager to escape city life, moved from Manhattan to Rockland. A number of unique Dutch-style red sandstone houses still stand, when the Duke of York established the first twelve counties of New York in 1683, present-day Rockland County was part of Orange County known then as Orange County South of the Mountains. Orangetown was created at the time under a royal grant. Around this time, as the English began to colonize Nyack and Tappan, the natural barrier of the Ramapo Mountains and the size of the county made it difficult to carry out governmental activities. At one point there were twin governments, one on side of the Ramapo Mountains. For this reason, Rockland split off from Orange in 1798 to form its own county and that same year the county seat was transferred from Tappan to New City, where a new courthouse was built. Haverstraw was separated from Orangetown in 1719 and became a town in 1788, it included the present-day Clarkstown, Ramapo, Clarkstown and Ramapo became towns in 1791, followed by Stony Point in 1865. George Washington had headquarters for a time at John Sufferns tavern, British Major John André met with American traitor Benedict Arnold near Stony Point to buy the plans for the fortifications at West Point. André was captured with the plans in Tarrytown on his way back to the British lines, he was brought to Tappan for trial in the Tappan church, found guilty, two days later Washington visited Sir Guy aboard a British war vessel. On this day the Kings Navy fired its first salute to the flag of the United States of America, in the decades following the Revolution, Rockland became popular for its stone and bricks. These products, however, required quarrying in land that many believed should be set aside as a preserve
8.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
