| Piermont, New York | |
| Settlement Type: | Village |
| Pushpin Map: | New York |
| Mapsize: | 260px |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | New York |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Rockland |
| Subdivision Type3: | Town |
| Subdivision Name3: | Orangetown |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Bruce E. Tucker |
| Leader Title1: | Deputy Mayor |
| Leader Name1: | Mark Blomquist |
| Leader Title2: | Trustees |
| Leader Name2: | Ivanya L. Alpert, Richard Owens Burns, and Christine Andrews |
| Established Title: | Incorporated |
| Established Date: | 1859 |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Total Km2: | 2.89 |
| Area Land Km2: | 1.74 |
| Area Water Km2: | 1.15 |
| Area Total Sq Mi: | 1.12 |
| Area Land Sq Mi: | 0.67 |
| Area Water Sq Mi: | 0.44 |
| Population As Of: | 2020 |
| Population Total: | 2517 |
| Population Density Km2: | 1444.66 |
| Population Density Sq Mi: | 3739.97 |
| Timezone: | EST |
| Utc Offset: | −5 |
| Timezone Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | −4 |
| Elevation M: | 29 |
| Elevation Ft: | 95 |
| Coordinates: | 41.0406°N -73.9189°W |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP Code |
| Postal Code: | 10968 |
| Area Code: | 845 |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank Info: | 36-57749 |
| Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature ID |
| Blank1 Info: | 960362 |
| Website: | piermont-ny.org |
Piermont is a village incorporated in 1847 in Rockland County, New York, United States. Piermont is in the town of Orangetown, located north of the hamlet of Palisades, east of Sparkill, and south of Grand View-on-Hudson, on the west bank of the Hudson River. The population was 2,517 at the 2020 census.[2] Woody Allen set The Purple Rose of Cairo (1984) in Piermont.
The village's name, in earlier years known as Tappan Landing, was given by Dr. Eleazar Lord, author, educator, deacon of the First Protestant Dutch Church and first president of the Erie Railroad. It was derived by combining a local natural feature - Tallman Mountain - and the most prominent man-made feature of the village - the long Erie Railroad pier.
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.
=Proposed CBD Zoning Controvery=In 2024 the village government led by Bruce Tucker became embroiled in controversy around a proposed three-story residential building in downtown. Village residents vehemently objected to the modern boxy architecture as wholly inconsistent with the village's historic character and aesthetics. The legality of the village's Board of Trustees' amendment to its zoning code to facilitate the proposed development was openly challenged by the Rockland County Planning Department. Village residents also raised concerns about increased traffic, parking issues, and the site having previously served as a gas station with underground storage tanks.[3]
Village residents and neighbors flocked to social media to express their concerns, including the establishment of Preserve Piermont on Facebook and a blog entitled Unhand Piermont! which together focus not only on the unsuitability of the proposed project but allege wrongdoing by village officials.[4]
Dennis Hardy, former Mayor of Piermont from 1997 to 2001, noted "There was little public input. The village stubbed its nose at the county by ignoring the county planning office." Hardy also called the project was "totally out of character with downtown Main Street."[5]
Resignations related to this controversy included Piermont Planning Board Chair Daniel Spitzer (brother of former Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer) and Piermont Trustee Nathan Mitchell.[6] [7]
In response to a lawsuit filed by village residents, on October 11, 2024 Rockland County Supreme Court Justice Hal Greenwald declared the law which created the Piermont Central Business Multi-Use (CBM) Zoning District “null, void and jurisdictionally invalid.” The ruling was based on the failure, under Rockland County General Municipal Law, for the Village of Piermont to have referred the law creating the new zoning district to the County Planning Department for final approval.[8]
=Piermont Pier Imminent Collapse=In November 2024 the concrete end of the historical Piermont Pier was closed off as it was deemed to be structurally deficient and at risk of imminent collapse. Mayor Bruce Tucker noted "We are going to need some major money here...if anyone has any money, we'd love to talk to them."[9]
The Piermont Branch was not the only Erie rail line that served the village. Piermont Railroad Station, located on Ash Street, is a Victorian Stick style structure built in 1873 which served as Piermont's stop for the former Erie Railroad Northern Branch north-south line, which went from Nyack, New York, to Jersey City, New Jersey. Service on the Northern Branch stopped running through Piermont in 1966. The branch was abandoned in the 1970s as a result of railroad consolidation.
The exterior of the building was renovated to its original architecture and French gray, light-green and oxide-red color scheme in 2006 by the Piermont Historical Society. They replaced the roof and installed a new 9feet cupola. The train station was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
Piermont Fire Department, Rockland County department 13, is an all-volunteer fire department, providing fire, EMS, and water rescue services, and is located on Main Street. Piermont is one of the few districts in Rockland County having a Dive Rescue team, providing water rescue services from the Tappan Zee Bridge to the Palisades.
The Piermont hand-cranked drawbridge, also known as the Sparkill Creek Drawbridge, was originally built in 1880 by the King Iron Bridge Company, a company from Cleveland, Ohio, that constructed more than 10,000 bridges over six decades. The hand-cranked drawbridge is used as a pedestrian walkway providing a link to Tallman Mountain State Park. This bridge is the only hand-cranked drawbridge in Rockland County and perhaps in the United States. Back in the day, fishermen on sloops heading up and down the creek got out of their vessel, cranked up the drawbridge, sailed across, got out of their vessel and cranked down the drawbridge for vehicular traffic. The whole bridge was dismantled piece by piece, sent off-site for restoration and restored to its original state after a complete forensic analysis. Allan King Sloan, the great-great-grandson of the company's founder, provided some of the information that is on the historical marker nearby and attended the dedication ceremony on August 7, 2009.
Piermont is located at 41.0406°N -73.9189°W (41.040623, -73.918788).[10]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.1sqmi, of which 0.7sqmi is land and 0.5sqmi, or 41.74%, is water.
Piermont is on the west bank of the Hudson River, south of the Tappan Zee Bridge.
As of the census[11] of 2000, there were 2,607 people, 1,189 households, and 672 families residing in the village. The population density was 3878.9sp=usNaNsp=us. There were 1,320 housing units at an average density of 1964sp=usNaNsp=us. The racial makeup of the village was 78.75% White, 4.72% Black, 0.19% Native American, 7.79% Asian, 5.49% from other races, and 3.07% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.62% of the population.
There were 1,189 households, out of which 25.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.7% were married couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.4% were non-families. 35.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.87.
In the village, the population was spread out, with 19.2% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 32.7% from 25 to 44, 30.5% from 45 to 64, and 11.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.3 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $61,591, and the median income for a family was $89,846. Males had a median income of $50,659 versus $43,176 for females. The per capita income for the village was $43,731. About 3.0% of families and 9.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.5% of those under age 18 and 4.4% of those age 65 or over.
Eleanor Stroud Park - A pond and small surrounding park next to Sparkill Creek and under the U.S. Route 9W viaduct. The park is named after a woman who lived near the pond on Ferdon Avenue.[18] For decades she looked after the children who ice skated at the pond and served hot chocolate, coffee, hot dogs and cookies from a nearby shed. The pond is free to the public and open until 9 PM every day the green signal flag is posted.