Nanuet

History

The first name of the place was Clarkstown, a name it retained until 1856 when, at the suggestion of James De Clark, the present name was given by Munsee Chief (Nannawitt). Chief Nannawitt sold lands in North Jersey, signed the Wawayanda Patent and witnessed the Cheesecock Patent. The Erie Railroad arrived in Rockland County in 1841 along its original main line to Piermont. The New Jersey and New York Railroad, the predecessor of the Pascack Valley Line, reached Nanuet in 1869.

Geography

Nanuet is located at (41.095296, −74.015622). According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all land. The topography is a result of the massive glaciation of the last ice age, and as such the soil is extremely rocky and the surface shows glacial erratic boulders. The glacial ice scraped off and carried with it rocks and minerals from as far north as Canada, depositing them in Nanuet in particular and southern New York in general. This is the hypothesized source of the manganese-rich parvo-mangano-edenite minerals, as well as the placer ore for gold panning within Nauraushaun Brook. There are fossil impressions of huge Precambrian Era jellyfish in the wooded, undeveloped regions. One prominent surface feature, a Hopewell Indian burial mound dating to 325 AD, is located near Nauraushaun Brook at the western edge of the Manhattan Woods Golf Club in West Nyack. Aerial views of this feature reveal it to have been built in the shape of a snake. Lake Nanuet Park is a pool which is designed to look like a naturally occurring lake. The park which surrounds it offers residents a summer pool and recreational baseball/softball fields. Recent massive flooding and subsequent contamination closed the park for swimming until 2011.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  50,403
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  49,966
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  48,278
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  41,321
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  40,088
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  38,538
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  37,552
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  35,673

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