Ramapo College of New Jersey, NJ

Ramapo College of New Jersey is a census-designated place in Bergen County, New Jersey, covering the college campus in Mahwah’s Ramapo Valley. The land had older layers long before the college: Native people traveled through the valley, Blandina Bayard established an early trading post near the Ramapo River in 1700, and later Dutch and French Huguenot settlers worked farms there. Valley Road became a route for Revolutionary-era armies, and Washington’s forces used the ground that now holds the college athletic fields. By the mid-20th century, the valley also held large private estates.

The college took shape after the Patrick family’s Mahwah property became available. New Jersey acquired the mansion and 300 acres for the new public college, which opened its doors in 1971 after the site was selected and developed. Today the campus sits among wooded hills, old estate traces, academic buildings, and the roads of northern Bergen County. The local scoop is that the CDP name points to a college campus with a surprisingly deep pre-college history: trading post, farm country, Revolutionary road, estate, and public liberal-arts school all occupy the same valley.