Ramapo Mountain State Forest is a

state forest A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign or federated state, or territory. Background The precise application of the terms vary by jurisdiction. For example: * In Australia, a ...

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...

and

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69, ...

Counties in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

. The park is operated and maintained by the

New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry In the state of New Jersey, the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry is an administrative division of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. In its most visible role, the Division is directly responsible for the management and ...

. The park offers

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other act ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

(including

ice fishing Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice fishers may fish in the open or in heated enclosures, some with bunks and amenities. Shelters Long ...

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...

horseback riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

and

mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...

. Several trails lead to views of the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

skyline. The Ramapo Lake Natural Area within the park has several trails to excellent views from rock outcroppings and ledges. A mountain lake provides fishing and birdwatching (but no

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

). The forest borders the Ramapo Valley County Reservation, a part of the Bergen County park system, and Ringwood State Park in Bergen and Passaic counties. It is part of a trail system which runs along the ridge of the

Ramapo Mountains The Ramapo Mountains are a forested chain of the Appalachian Mountains in northeastern New Jersey and southeastern New York, in the United States. They range in height from in New Jersey, and in New York. Several parks and forest preserves en ...

north through

Mahwah, New Jersey Mahwah is the northernmost and largest municipality by geographic area () in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population of the township was 25,487, a decline of 403 from the 25,890 counted in the ...

and into

Rockland County, New York Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of ...

. The forest contains the ruins of

Van Slyke Castle Van Slyke Castle, originally known as Foxcroft, is a ruined early 20th century mansion in Wanaque, New Jersey that was built to resemble a castle. The home was built by stockbroker William Porter in the 1900s. He named the property Foxcroft, as ...

, a popular destination for hikers.

History

In the 1920s Clifford MacEvoy began buying up property and deeds to form the Bergen Country Hunting and Fishing Club. At about this time, a small pond located on the property called "Roten" pond (Dutch for

muskrat The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habita ...

), was dammed up to form the much larger

Ramapo Lake Ramapo Lake is a 120-acre man-made lake in Ramapo Mountain State Forest in Northern New Jersey North Jersey comprises the northern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the upper Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designat ...

, and some small parcels of land surrounding the lake were sold to private buyers for building lots, one including a television celebrity, lawyer and noted author. In 1924, at the top of the mountain he built a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

and

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

manor house, designed by Mr. MacEvoy for his wife and his daughter. He named the estate RyeCliff after his wife's maiden name, Ryerson, and his first name, Clifford. Another mansion was also built on top of a hill overlooking Ramapo Lake, it was destroyed in a tragic fire one New Year's Eve many years later. The house includes a screened in

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

, a large

living room In Western architecture, a living room, also called a lounge room (Australian English), lounge (British English), sitting room (British English), or drawing room, is a room for relaxing and socializing in a residential house or apartment. Su ...

as well as a

family room A family room is an informal, all-purpose room in a house. The family room is designed to be a place where family and guests gather for group recreation like talking, reading, watching TV, and other family activities. Often, the family room is l ...

, each room with hand-hewn chestnut beams, a stone

fireplace A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the desig ...

, and views of Ramapo Lake and the surrounding mountains to the west. At some point around 1920 – 1928 a tower was added to the top of the mountain. It was originally a

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towers often operate in conju ...

erected on the site of what is now the

Wanaque Reservoir Wanaque Reservoir is a man-made lake located within Wanaque and Ringwood, New Jersey along the Wanaque River. The reservoir came into being in 1928 by the construction of the Raymond Dam along the river in Wanaque. Besides the Wanaque River, th ...

, built in the early 1900s by Clifford MacEvoy. Mr. MacEvoy relocated the tower to Ryecliff and enclosed it in mountain stone so as to blend in with the house itself as well as the natural environment. The Observation Tower stands high at a ground elevation of . Its five stories include two floors with

toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human urine and feces, and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting position popu ...

and, on the fifth floor, the room contains a fireplace. A hatch on the fifth floor leads to a roof with incredible views of Ramapo Park and Lake, the Wanaque Reservoir, mountains to the west and to the east, New York City. In 1976, the majority of Ryecliff's area was conveyed, by the trustee of the MacEvoy estate, to the State of New Jersey to become what is now the "Ramapo Mountain State Forest". The state forest built a network of hiking trails with the help of the New Jersey Youth Conservation Corps in 1978, some of which are still in use today. The forest was unfortunately sliced in two by the controversial extension of Route 287 in the early 1990s by the NJ Department of Transportation. A footbridge was built over the highway along the Cannonball Trail to mitigate this issue. Nestled at the top of the mountain, however the private Ryecliff estate, complete with tennis court, guest house, horse stable, private pond, and of course the Tower that can be seen for miles around. The Ryecliff estate has recently been put up for sale.

References

External links

NY NJ CT Botany, Ramapo Mountain State Forest
* ttp://www.nynjtc.org/park/ramapo-mountain-state-forest NY-NJTC: Ramapo Mountain State Forest Trail Details and Infobr>Good Mountain View
{{New Jersey Parks New Jersey state forests State forests of the Appalachians Ramapos Parks in Bergen County, New Jersey Parks in Passaic County, New Jersey Pompton Lakes, New Jersey

History

See also

References

External links