Junction US 202 and US 9W—Suffern—(Morristown, N.J.); US 202,13 m.
Concrete roadbed.
US 202 is a short cut that avoids the larger cities between New England and the Philadelphia area. Between Haverstraw and the Bear Mountain Bridge it unites with US 9W (see Tour 21A) and east of the Bear Mountain Bridge with US 6 (see Tour 4). This section winds through sparsely settled country, part of the way along the edge of the Harriman-Bear Mountain section of the Palisades Interstate Park. The near-by hills are in places covered with forests that have received expert care in recent years and the area resembles a natural park.
The road follows an old Indian trail, as artifacts discovered during the road-building period indicate. During the Revolutionary War it was used by messengers between commanders of fortifications along the Hudson and detachments holding the Clove, the main Ramapo pass. New England troops and their French allies marched over it on their way from Stony Point and King’s Ferry.
US 202 branches west from US 9W, 0 m., at the northern end of Haverstraw, and at 0.5 m. passes (L) LITTLE TOR, the northernmost outcrop of the Palisades traprock. As the route reaches the valley of the Mahwah River, 6 m., the Ramapo Mountains rise up in the west (hikers in these mountains should be on guard against rattlesnakes and copperheads).
The BAYARD LANE PROJECT (L), 9 m., is a 40-acre tract devoted to the most recent of New York’s long line of experiments in finding a happier way of living. Unlike the members of the communities of 100 years ago, the members of this one have no special religious or political programs; they are interested in providing themselves with attractive and comfortable homes in an efficient and economical manner. The ground is owned by the organization; the dwellings, conforming to plans approved by a governing board, are built for the individual householders by a co-operative. The members of the community have truck gardens for their own use but practically all male members of the village commute to jobs in New York City. This project, one of several being established, was inspired by Ralph Borsodi, economist and author.
SUFFERN, 11 m. (500 alt., 3,765 pop.), is a commuters’ village and the local shopping center for many city people with summer homes near by. The main street of the village is treeless and sign-cluttered, giving little evidence of the spirit that has landscaped the riverbanks so attractively.
The SUFFERN SUMMER THEATER (July and Aug.; seats $1-$1.50) produces Broadway hits and is used for tryouts of plays that interest Broadway producers.
At 11 m. is the junction with a black-topped road.
Left on this road 0.4 m. to (L) the HOME OF DAN BEARD (1850—), teacher and author, best known as the founder of the Boy Scouts of America. The story-and-a-half white clapboard house with green shutters and roof is in a five-acre tract of woods and meadow.
On the southern outskirts of Suffern, at 13 m., US 202 crosses the NEW JERSEY LINE at a point 35 miles northeast of Morristown, New Jersey.