Palisades is an unincorporated hamlet in the town of Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, United States.

The area referred to as Snedens Landing is located in the eastern portion of Palisades and goes down to the Hudson River.

The hamlet has a registered historic district known as the Closter Road–Oak Tree Road Historic District.

History

thumb|Snedens Landing by [[Robert Knox Sneden, 1858]]

17th and 18th centuries

In 1685 Dr. George Lockhart purchased 3,410 acres along the west bank of the Hudson River which would become Palisades, NY. In the ensuing 20 years the land would change hands twice. By 1702 there were two houses with 14 people, eight of them enslaved.

Revolutionary War

The Palisades vicinity saw considerable activity during the Revolutionary War. Loyalties were split more than normally in such a conflict, because the area marked the dividing line between American and British combatants. This situation is demonstrated within the family of Mollie Sneden, a legendary resident whose family name was given to Snedens Landing, as Palisades was known at that time. She and most of her sons were Tories, but her son John was a Patriot. He was allowed to keep the family ferry operating across the Hudson River to Dobbs Ferry during the Revolution. An action by Mollie Sneden during this period illustrates the close interaction of British and patriots in this vicinity.

<blockquote>The story goes that a British soldier was pursued down the gully by some patriots; she hid him in her house in a large chest on which she set pans of cream to rise, and when the patriots arrived she misinformed them; they were tired and asked for refreshment, and she offered them all the milk she had, but told them not to disturb the pans of cream which she had just set out. In the evening she is said to have ferried the soldier across the river.</blockquote>

The British General Cornwallis crossed the Hudson with 6,000 men in November 1776 from Dobbs Ferry and forced the evacuation of Fort Lee. His natural disembarkation would have been Snedens Landing, directly across the river; but a force of 500 patriots armed with four cannon and a howitzer at Snedens Landing caused the British to reroute their crossing to Closter, farther south. In 1780 George Washington ordered a blockhouse to be built at Snedens Landing to serve as a guard for the ferry service, an intelligence center and a means of communication. After its conclusion, the first official recognition of the infant United States was a 17-gun salute fired from the British warship which had sailed to Snedens Landing for General Sir Guy Carleton to meet General Washington at neighboring Tappan. Snedens Landing provided these farmers and quarrymen with the first access for a stretch of about 13 miles above Burdetts Landing, or roughly the spot where the George Washington Bridge connects New Jersey and New York today. The town became so busy that a 500-foot pier was constructed. In the first half of the 19th century steamboats began plying the Hudson. The Sneden family, which continued to ferry passengers and goods across to Dobbs Ferry, also communicated with steamboat traffic, which could not dock in the shallow water at the shore, mid-river.

With its raison d'etre diminished, Palisades languished. Its 500-foot pier was abandoned and disintegrated. The once thriving river port transformed to an agriculture-based economy depending upon orchards, vineyards and farms.

Major roadways and highways:

  • US 9W
  • Palisades Interstate Parkway
  • New York State Route 340

Emergency services

Palisades is served by the Orangetown Police Department, the South Orangetown Ambulance Corps., and the Sparkill-Palisades Fire Department.

Notable people

  • Trey Anastasio, musician
  • Mikhail Baryshnikov, dancer, choreographer, and actor<!-- MISSING:CONNECTION TO PALISADES -->
  • Chuck Barris, game show producer and host
  • Lorraine Bracco, actress
  • Ellen Burstyn, actress billionaire businessman and heir
  • Katharine Cornell, actress-manager, and Guthrie McClintic, producer-director
  • Noël Coward, playwright and composer
  • Scarlett Johansson, actress
  • Angelina Jolie, American actress, attended elementary school in the town.
  • Vivien Leigh, actress
  • Jansen Panettiere, actor
  • Aidan Quinn, actor<!-- MISSING:CONNECTION TO PALISADES -->
  • Rodney Smith, photographer
  • Edgar Snow, American journalist
  • Mike Wallace, news commentator
  • Orson Welles, director and actor
  • Pinchas Zukerman, violinist and composer

Because of the large number of A-list actors who have made the area their home over the years, it has come to be known as "Hollywood on the Hudson."