West Nyack

West Nyack of Clarkstown, Rockland County, is perhaps best known for its humungous mall, the Palisades, named for the gigantic cliffs that overlook the Hudson River, sculpted out of a glacier millions and billions of years ago.

Easily accessed off the Tappan Zee Bridge and NY State Thruway, West Nyack is also the burial grounds for many African American veterans and citizens, buried in the town’s Mount Moor African American cemetery. You can in fact see some graves from the parking lot of the Palisades, which is built partially on the cemetery land, but away from where the buried lay. When the Palisades Mall was being built, residents feared that it might bring bad luck, and part of these fears seemed to be confirmed by the problems encountered during building revolving around the major issue of preserving the wetlands that reside there. However, the mall was built, and now people can enjoy many stores and restaurants like Barnes & Noble, Hot Topic, Bath and Body Works, an IMAX movie theater, nd the only Disney Store (that I know of) close to Westchester County.

It’s a middle-class and upper-class town that’s known for its great parks like beautiful Nyack Beach State Park and Hook Mountain State Park. It’s also known for its Blue-Ribbon Strawton Elementary school, and Clarkstown High School’s great results and high graduation rate (93% go on to higher education). There is a high diversity so students are prone to encounter racial tension, but the schools try to teach tolerance and understanding to prevent this from happening.

Generally West Nyack is, while expensive, a great place to live, and very safe. It’s right on the Hudson River so you get wonderful river views and excellent recreational activities.