Nanuet

Nanuet is a hamlet in the town of Clarkstown of Rockland County, located just 19 miles from the heart of Manhattan in NYC, and only 2 miles from New Jersey.

One of the things that makes Nanuet unique is its topography, as most of the land here was transformed by an Ice Age-era glacier, leaving behind very rocky soil and large, rocky boulders; not to mention Precambrian Era jellyfish fossils. There is also a Hopewell Indian burial mound, which can be found right near the golf course, and from the air is seen to be shaped like a snake, which clearly held symbolic meaning for the Native Americans who used to live here.

Today, people come to Nanuet to enjoy the award-winning school system (George W. Miller Elementary School is a Blue Ribbon school, and Sports Illustrated hailed the Nanuet Varsity Basketball team as No. 1 in the state of NY. There’s Lake Nanuet Park, which is actually a man-made pool that was built to look as though it were a real lake. (Thankfully, the park recently reopened in 2011 after floods had closed it for quite some time.) There’s lots of stores to be found like Super Stop & Shop, Barnes & Noble (140 Rockland Plaza), Khol’s, Home Depot, Costco, Bob’s Discount Furniture and Office Max. Due to its competition with the Palisades Center Mall, the Nanuet Mall---now calling itself “The Shops at Nanuet”---is currently transforming itself into a larger mall to draw in more shops, restaurants and customers. In the meantime, check out “The Nanuet Resturaunt” for great quality pizza and fantastic prices, not to mention friendly staff and an old-school, 1970’s pizza parlor style.

Nanuet is a wonderful suburban community, attracting many buyers for its beautiful colonial, Cape-Cod and high ranch-style homes, all mainly below $300,000. The Nanuet Union Free School District helps its students become the best that they can be, offering award-winning schools and winner of the 1997 NYS Music Educators Association President’s Award, now famous for its performing arts program, high scores in verbal and math, and stellar graduation rate.

Lake Nanuet is the place to be in the summer: great for picnicking, playing and swimming, not to mention that the parent town of Clarkstown has two other pools and 21 parks altogether. It’s not too far from NYC, which makes it perfect for commuters who have high corporate jobs, as Nanuet has a Metro North/New Jersey Transit train station which, via connections at Hoboken, NJ, will take you directly to Manhattan’s Penn Station and can be found at 1 Prospect Street. Nanuet offers amazing medical service via Healthcheck Immediate Medical Care and others. Gyms include Planet Fitness, Premier Fitness, Weight Watchers, Rockland County Adventure Boot Camp (for women), My Gym, Evolution Taekwondo Academy and the New York Sports Club. Nanuet also has several coffee shops including your local Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts and the Corner Cafe. Don’t forget to bring your family to Panera Bread for lunch---get the You Pick Two: half sandwhich, half soup in your choice of bread bowl or cup (I highly recommend the bead bowl)! Enoy!