Palisades, New York?qsrc=3044

Snedens Landing by Robert Knox Sneden, 1858

Palisades, formerly known as Sneden's Landing and then Rockland, is a hamlet in the Town of Orangetown Rockland County, New York, United States located north of Rockleigh and Alpine, New Jersey; east of Tappan; south of Sparkill and west of the Hudson River.

The hamlet has no mayor, nor any official legislative bodies. It does, however, have its own library, and post office, with the zip code 10964. It is almost entirely residential with the exception of a small industrial area section on the Tappan border. The area commonly referred to as Snedens Landing, is located within the eastern portion of Palisades between US Route 9W and the Hudson River.

The hamlet has a registered historic district known as the Closter Road - Oak Tree Road Historic District. The district comprises the area from the north side of Closter Road and south side of Oak Tree Road approximately 1/2 mile west of US Route 9W in Palisades. (List of Registered Historic Places in Rockland County, New York)

The hamlet's significant institutions include an IBM conference center, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (of Columbia University), and a well-regarded nursing home.

It is the southernmost community in Rockland County. Sneden's Landing is mentioned in Alec Wilder's song "Did You Ever Cross Over to Sneden's?", one of Mabel Mercer's signature pieces.^[1]

Tourism

Mollie Sneden's house

Historical markers

• Skunk Hollow - (North of entrance to Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory) Route 9W.
• Cliffside (Palisades, New York) (NRHP)
• Closter Road-Oak Tree Road Historic District - (NRHP)
• Washington Spring Road-Woods Road Historic District - (NRHP)

Places of interest

• Abner Concklin House. (NRHP)
• Big House. (NRHP)
• Haring-Eberle House. (NRHP)
• Little House. (NRHP)
• Sneden's Ferry - The Sneden family operated a ferry at Sneden's Landing along with John Dobbs, who operated from the opposite shore Dobbs Ferry, New York. Begun by Dobbs in 1698, the ferry service was one of the oldest in the region and continued until 1944. In 1775, when Martha Washington and her son John Parke Custis, George Washington's stepson, drove from Mount Vernon to Cambridge, Massachusetts to meet her husband, venerable ferry mistress Mollie Sneden (1709-1810) piloted her across the Hudson River.
• Neiderhurst. (NRHP)
• Seven Oaks Estate. (NRHP)
• The Dobbs Ferry Block House (1780) An important revolutionary war fort overlooking the Hudson in active contact with General George Washington and serving as a listening post on enemy movements along the Hudson and initiating and receiving flags of truce during latter stages of the war. In the early 1920's the remains of the Block House at the current 39 Woods Rd were rebuilt by BP Adams, editor of the Literary Digest. In 1925 the home was voted "Best Small Home East of the Mississippi" by the American Institute of Architects and House Beautiful Magazine. (The Rockland Record, George Budke, Rockland Historical Society, 1940)

Local organizations and services

(non-commercial)

• 10964 - The Palisades Newsletter
• Palisades Community Center
• Palisades Library
• USPS Palisades Post Office [10964]

Emergency services

• Town of Orangetown Police Department
• South Orangetown Ambulance Corps
• Sparkill-Palisades Fire Department - John Paulding Engine Co. # 1

Major roadways and highways

• US Route 9W
• Palisades Interstate Parkway [no exit in Palisades]
• NY Route 340

Notable residents

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009)

• Aidan Quinn, actor^[2]
• Al Pacino, actor^[3]
• Bill Murray, actor and comedian^[3]
• Björk, singer/songwriter
• Hayden Panettiere, actress and singer
• Isley Brothers, singers
• Jansen Panettiere, actor
• Jessica Lange, actress
• Trey Anastasio, musician ^[4]
• Mikhail Baryshnikov, dancer, choreographer and actor^[3]
• William Hurt, actor^[3]
• Gerard, Robert "Sam" (1927 - January 28, 2010) Scientist, noted oceanographer, marine superintendent died in his Snedens Landing home at the age of 83. He worked at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He helped to pioneer the thermograd, an instrument used for measuring the flow of heat through the oceans and upper-most layers of the Earth. Gerard attended Cornell University's Hotel School but decided that he was better suited for a career in the sciences than one in the hospitality field. "He would have ideas in the night about how to build things better," said Alice Gerard, his wife of 58 years. "He was just not interested in money. ... He wasn't interested in selling himself either, which a hotel owner has to do." Sam Gerard spent a summer working with the Geological Survey in Alaska and, afterward, transferred to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque to study geology. In 1952, He earned a master's in arctic geography in Montreal and afterwards, in 1954, began what would become a 37-year career with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. He built equipment for ocean floor and mid-water sampling that was subsequently used on Lamont's research vessels; designed the "Gerard Barrel," a water-sampling instrument; and discovered the Vema Seamount off the coast of Africa. His work as a Marine Technical Coordinator greatly facilitated the project as he was responsible for the fitting and refitting of LDEO marine research vessels from the Vema through its successors, the Conrad, Eltanin, and Ewing, including the design and installation of numerous pieces of customized scientific measurement equipment critical to their research. In 1963, Sam Gerard was part of the team that recovered the USS Thresher, a nuclear-powered submarine that had sunk off the coast of New England. "He just liked to build things," Alice Gerard said. "He was good at looking at his environment and finding ways to better it."
• Mollie Sneden - Ferry Mistress - See Places of Interest above.
• Mary Lawrence [Tonetti] (1868–1945) - American sculptor and creative developer of "Snedens Landing Artists' Colony". By 1936, she owned 16 dwelling which were used by several artist including; Noel Coward, Laurence Olivier, John Houseman, Ethel Barrymore.
• Eric Gugler (1889-1979), an American architect, sculptor and painter was born into a prominent German family and graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University and the American Academy in Rome. In 1929 he won $20,000 for best design for a Chicago war memorial. He was best known for his long tenure working in the White House under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Gugler redesigned the Oval Office in 1930s, choosing the shape, location and general furnishings that the office maintains today. In 1933, early in the administration of President Roosevelt, the president began a series of meetings with Gugler to enlarge and modify the West Wing. The unique Steinway & Sons grand piano located in the East Room of the White House was designed in 1938 by Gugler with input from President Roosevelt. It has also been stated that he designed a quote from John Adams into a mantel at the White House. He designed the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C.. He also designed the home of Katharine Cornell, a theater actress and friend of his at Martha's Vineyard.

Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House

Floor of the Oval Office

Piano designed in 1938 by Eric Gugler

• Katherine Cornell (1893-1974), American actress who rented the Log Cabin in Snedens Landing in the 1930s and 40s. In the 1950s she bought land at the end of Woods Road and built her own house.
• Bob Hauser musician from the 1930s to the 1950s. Played with the Paul Whiteman Band.^[5]

References

Coordinates: 41°00′40″N 73°54′48″W / 41.01111°N 73.91333°W / 41.01111; -73.91333

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