Ramapo "In Ye Olden Times"

Dating to a time when water power was essential to manufacturing, the "Ramapo Works" (later simply Ramapo) were located at the base of Torne Mountain. A nail manufacturer from New York City named Josiah B. Pierson purchased the land in 1795, built a dam and bridge across the Ramapo River, and by 1813 was producing a million pounds of nails per year. As local iron ore supplies dwindled, the operation then expanded into weaving and cotton production, but with the coming of railroads at by mid-century the advantage of close proximity to New York was lost. Operations were suspended in 1851.

This map is a reconstruction of the Ramapo Works, described in greater detail by Rev. David Cole in his History of Rockland County.

Welcke, Robert A.

David Cole, History of Rockland County, New York : With Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men (J.B. Beers, 1884): 273.

Map

6 x 8 in.