A Hudson Valley Almanac day-trip guide
Rockland is the smallest and most densely settled county in these guides — squeezed between the Hudson, the New Jersey line, and the New York City suburbs — so this isn't a sprawling farm loop. But it holds some real surprises: the oldest working farm in the county has been in the same family for eleven generations since 1711, a fifth-generation orchard just opened the county's first cidery, the Hudson River arts villages are among the prettiest anywhere, and Harriman's wilderness sits right on the doorstep. Here's a day that pairs a couple of historic farms with the riverfront and the mountains.
Start along the Hudson in Piermont and Nyack, two arts-minded villages with great walking and water views. The Piermont Farmers' Market runs year-round on Sundays in the riverfront village, with a strong artisan-food culture — local honey, foraged mushrooms, bread, and the Concklin orchard among the vendors — and the Piermont Pier stretching out into the river is a fine place to stretch your legs. Just up the road, the Nyack Farmers' Market anchors a lively village of shops and cafés beneath the Mario Cuomo Bridge. For herbal goods, Piermont has an outpost of the iconic East Village herbalist Flower Power Herbs & Roots, and Nyack has Sage's Herbal Apothecary.
Head inland to Rockland's farm heart. The Orchards of Concklin in Pomona is the oldest working farm in the county and one of the oldest family businesses in New York State — farmed by eleven generations of Concklins since 1711, with U-pick apples, a year-round farm stand, and cider donuts and pies worth the trip alone. Nearby in Congers, Dr. Davies Farm is a fifth-generation farm founded in 1891 by one of New York's first female physicians — apples, peaches, a daily farm stand, and apple and pumpkin picking among 4,000 trees. On its grounds, Red Barn Cidery is Rockland's first farm-to-glass cidery, with an outdoor taproom overlooking the orchard and live music Thursday through Sunday — an ideal lunch-and-cider stop. Families should note West Maple Farm in Monsey, a 15-acre farm with a petting zoo, hayrides, honeybee tours, and pick-your-own vegetables.
For a glass of something local, Torne Valley Vineyards in Hillburn is the first winery in Rockland County — a restored 19th-century estate on the Ramapo River pouring wine by the glass or bottle, just 40 miles from Manhattan. And just beyond it lies Harriman State Park, the second-largest in the state: lakes, miles of trails, and genuine forest at the county's western edge. If you're gearing up for the outdoors, Davis Sport Shop in Sloatsburg sits right at Harriman's doorstep.
A scheduling heads-up: several of Rockland's markets — Piermont and Haverstraw — run on Sundays, while Pearl River is Saturday, so check the day before you build the route. The river villages of Nyack and Piermont are reachable by bus from the city, but the orchards, the winery, and Harriman all need a car. U-pick at Concklin and Davies peaks in the fall, when the cidery and the orchards are at their liveliest. And with a winery, a cidery, and several breweries on the map, plan for a designated driver.
The full Rockland lineup is on the Almanac: farms & food and markets.
A farm older than the country, a riverfront village, a mountain park at the edge of the suburbs — one very good Saturday.