Suffern is a village located in the town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. It is located along the border of Bergen County, New Jersey and is about 30 miles away from New York City. Suffern is a large suburban community that borders the similar New Jersey township of Mahwah to the south. On the local scale, Suffern is surrounded by Rockland communities of Hillburn, Montebello, Airmont and Monsey.

According to the United States Census Bureau, as of 2000 Suffern has a population of more than 11,000 residents. The village has a total area of 2.1 square miles. It is located at an elevation of over 300 feet above sea level.

Suffern is served by the excellent Ramapo Central School District and is home to Cherry Lane Elementary, RP Connor Elementary School, Montebello Elementary School, Viola Elementary School, Suffern Middle School and Suffern High School. The village is also home to Rockland Community College, a two year school part of the SUNY system. The college is also a major cultural and community center that regularly hosts different events ranging from music concerts and theater plays to annual car and dog shows. Another educational facility in the village is the Suffern Free Library. Higher education is also available at Ramapo College of New Jersey, a four year college located only a few miles away in Mahwah.

Suffern is home to the Good Samaritan Hospital, which has more than 350 beds and provides comprehensive and diverse services ranging from emergency visits to specialty cancer and cardiac treatments. The hospital is one of three main hospitals in Rockland County and even provides services for residents of nearby Bergen (NJ) and Orange Counties.

Suffern has an urban characteristic with a solid old-fashioned downtown area full of shops, businesses and restaurants serving a variety of wonderful ethnic and American cuisines. The Downtown area includes Lafayette Theater, which was built in 1924 and has about a 1,000 seating capacity. Other notable landmarks in the downtown Suffern include a couple of museums and a soldier’s monument greeting the people entering the downtown area. The downtown area also includes village hall, police and fire headquarters. In addition to several fast food restaurant and retail chains, Suffern is home to Rockland County’s only Wal-Mart.

The residential communities of Suffern consist mostly of single family homes with some apartment buildings, all of which are tucked away nicely from any distractions and surrounded by wooded areas. The two main roads passing through Suffern are route 202 and route 59, both of which have a significant presence of businesses. Additionally, Suffern is conveniently located near Interstate 287(Exits 14B & 15) which easily leads to upstate New York via I-87, New Jersey via Garden State Parkway, New York City via Palisades Interstate Parkway, and Westchester County through the Tappan Zee Bridge. Public Transportation in Suffern is provided by the trademark green buses of the Transport of Rockland (TOR.)

Suffern has a train station along the Port Jervis Line/Main Line operated by Metro North and New Jersey Transit. The train route leads to midtown Manhattan’s Penn Station via a transfer.

Suffern is home to a research and development center of the Avon cosmetic Company, considered one of the best employers in Rockland County. Interestingly, the current building was built in 1897 and is the oldest facility of the company. Additionally, Suffern has a branch of the pharmaceutical company Novartis.

The beautiful Ramapo Mountains in Harriman State Park overlook the village of Suffern and offer a variety of outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing and sightseeing of scenic views. From the peaks of the mountains, most of Rockland County and New York City is clearly visible.

Recreation in the village is available at Suffern Baseball Complex and at the multi-sport fields, tennis courts, and indoor gymnasiums of the local junior high school and high school, which includes a swimming pool. The field at Suffern High School is named after Walt Weiss, an former alumni who turned into a professional baseball player. There are also outdoor sports fields at Rockland Community College, which also includes a large indoor field house with a swimming pool and gymnasium. Suffern Memorial Park includes Lake Antrim and an outdoor swimming pool. Additionally, there are lots of other parks and recreational facilities surrounding Suffern.