Bloomingburg

History

Bloomingburg's accepted incorporation date is 1833. It was the first county seat of Sullivan County, being located in the original county town of Mamakating. It prospered, first, as a center of commerce along the Newburgh–Cochecton Turnpike, then as a railway town serving vacationers in the mountains. Many guesthouses in the village were not rebuilt after the devastating fire of February 1922, and the village has been primarily an agricultural center ever since. Beginning in the late 2000s and intensifying during the 2010s, Bloomingburg became the site of a controversial residential development intended primarily for Hasidic Jewish families. A large townhouse project known as Chestnut Ridge significantly increased the village’s population and led to prolonged legal and political disputes between long-time residents, local officials, developers, and new residents. These disputes included lawsuits alleging religious discrimination, challenges to voter registrations, and efforts to dissolve the village government. In 2016, Bloomingburg and the Town of Mamakating settled a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by the project’s developer, agreeing to pay $2.9 million without admitting wrongdoing. Separately, Hasidic residents settled a voting rights lawsuit against the Sullivan County Board of Elections, resulting in election monitoring and policy changes. Federal prosecutors later uncovered a voter fraud scheme connected to the 2014 village election. In 2017, developer Shalom Lamm and two associates pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit voter fraud after admitting they had falsely registered non-residents to vote in Bloomingburg. Lamm was and both co-conspirators each served under 1 year in prison, while the bloomingburg community and residents were impacted forever.…

Geography

Bloomingburg is located at (41.556159, −74.441060). The village's eastern boundary is the Shawangunk Kill, Dutch for "Shawangunk River", also the Orange County line at that point, with its western boundary a short distance up the Shawangunk Ridge. It is the only population center in Sullivan County entirely within the Hudson River watershed. The northern and southern boundaries roughly parallel Main Street, also County Route 171, the former route of NY 17, which now bypasses the village to the north as an expressway. It is served by two exits on Route 17, one for Burlingham Road and the other, just over the county line, for NY 17K. According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,397
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,367
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  13,434
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  12,638
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  12,592
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  11,808
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  11,728
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,637

Most recent

• M 2.8 — 2025-08-05
  1 km N of Hillsdale, New Jersey
• M 3 — 2025-08-03
  0 km W of Little Ferry, New Jersey
• M 2.9 — 2024-05-24
  6 km E of Califon, New Jersey
• M 2.6 — 2024-05-01
  1 km NW of Gladstone, New Jersey
• M 2.9 — 2024-04-27
  7 km WSW of Gladstone, New Jersey
• M 2.6 — 2024-04-10
  5 km WSW of Gladstone, New Jersey