Sloatsburg Village Historian Harrison Bush stands at the entrance to Sloatsburg Cemetery.

With the long Memorial Day weekend here, let’s look back a moment to the recent annual Sloatsburg Elementary School fourth-graders history tour to historical points throughout the village.

New Sloatsburg Elementary School Principal Joseph Lloyd stands with students at the Sloatsburg Cemetery during the annual History Day tour.

As part of the Sloatsburg “then and now” studies, which annually immerses Sloatsburg fourther-graders in local history, Mayor Carl Wright and historians Geoff Welch and Craig Long met with fourth-graders to discuss historically important moments in and around Sloatsburg. Students pored over photographs and maps while peppering the guests with questions about the construction of the New York State Thruway, efforts to protect the environment, the creation of the community field and how war has impacted the community.

“The history here is unbelievable and the kids learn so much,” noted Sloatsburg Elementary School library clerk Cathy Callinan. “It’s a wonderful unit that’s been in place for years and years.”

Along with the sit down discussion, fourth-graders took a village history tour that included the Sloat House, where George Washington once slept, and other nearby landmarks including the Jacob Sloat House now known as Harmony Hall, the Old Sloatsburg Ramapo Cemetery that dates back some 200 years — where Jacob Sloat himself is buried.

Historian Craig Long and Sloatsburg Mayor Carl Wright hold forth with students to discuss local history.

During the historical talk at the elementary school, Mayor Wright said that the founding of the Ramapo Central School District was among the most important events in the village’s history.

“It used to be that when Sloatsburg students finished the 8th grade, they had a choice of going to high school in Tuxedo or in Suffern,” he explained. “But in 1942, all of the local communities—Sloatsburg, Airmont and Suffern among them—decided to form a school district. This held great importance because of the quality of education that children could receive at Suffern High School.”

Sloatsburg Elementary School teacher Jennifer Martini said that seeing that they are part of a proud community that values its history is an important experience for students.

“The students take a bus tour around Sloatsburg and that is followed by Visitors Day,” she explained. “Community members come in and discuss the government, history, environment, and community of Sloatsburg. It is a great opportunity for the students to learn about all of the history that has happened in their very own community.”

Photos of Town of Suffern historian and Sloatsburg Mayor Carl Wright — as was information in this article — used courtesy of Ramapo Central Schools.