Rockland and the Revolution
A 250th Anniversary Exploration

On July 4, 1774, prominent men disaffected with colonial administration and taxation, gathered in Tappan to adopt the Orangetown Resolutions, a document that contained the seeds of the principles that later would be embodied in the Declaration of Independence. By 1775, rebellion in Rockland was full blown. The War for Independence turned the county's natural boundaries—the Hudson River in the east and Ramapo Pass in the west—into contested and fortified zones.

In greater national narratives of the war, including the recent Ken Burns documentary series, mention is barely made of the critical strategic role Rockland and Rocklanders played in the conflict. Yet as the war began, control of the Hudson Valley became a primary strategic objective of both the British high command and General George Washington and his Continental Army, who spent more than a third of the war here.

In this special Semiquincentennial exhibition, we take a close look at Rockland and the Revoutionary War, often through the eyes of the local historians who, since the 19th century, have been shedding light on little-known people and incidents that helped form the nation we celebrate today.