Editing Tappan, New York (section)

==History==

===Early history===
The [[Tappan tribe]] were a [[Lenape]] people who inhabited the region radiating from the [[Hudson Palisades]] and the [[New York – New Jersey Highlands]] at the time of European colonization in the 17th century.<ref>{{cite web|author=Hugh C. MacDougall |url=http://external.oneonta.edu/cooper/susan/hudson.html |title=James Fenimore Cooper Society Home Page |publisher=External.oneonta.edu |date=1989-09-15 |accessdate=2022-07-20}}</ref> "Tappan" is derived from the [[Lenape]] word "tuphanne" thought to mean "cold water."

The first [[Orange County, New York|Orange County]] courthouse was built in 1691 in Tappan, though by 1737, sessions alternated between Tappan and [[Goshen (village), New York|Goshen]]. The first school house in Rockland County was built in 1711 in Tappan. It was used as a school until 1860. There would not be another school in the county until late in the 18th century.

===American Revolution===
The [[Orangetown Resolutions]] were adopted in 1774 at the home of Yoast Mabie. The Dutch colonial house was built by his brother Casparus Mabie in Tappan. When [[Great Britain]] imposed duties on the colonies and closed the port of [[Boston]], local inhabitants passed resolutions calling for a boycott of British imports and exports on Monday, July 4, 1774, two years to the day before the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] was proclaimed.

British Major [[John André]], who conspired with [[Benedict Arnold]] to allow the takeover of [[West Point]] by the British, was captured in 1780 in [[Tarrytown, New York|Tarrytown]] on his way back to the British lines with the plans of the fort's fortifications. Major André was brought to Tappan, confined at Caspurus Mabie's home, known as "Mabie's Inn," and brought to trial at the [[Reformed Church of Tappan]]; he was found guilty of espionage, hanged, and buried nearby.

Strickland, Major André's executioner, who was confined at the camp in Tappan as a dangerous Tory during André's trial, was granted liberty for accepting the duty of hangman and returned to his home in the Ramapo Valley or Smith's Cove. Joshua Hett Smith, accused of conspiring with Major André, was also brought to trial at the Reformed Church of Tappan. The trial lasted four weeks and ended in Smith's acquittal.

General [[George Washington]], who in 1789 became the first president of the United States, used the [[DeWint House|1700 DeWint House]], Rockland County's oldest existing structure, as his [[headquarters]] four times between 1780 and 1783, and dined at Mabie's Inn during the [[American Revolution]]. Today the house known as Mabie's Inn is a restaurant operating as [[The Old 76 House]].

===Recent history===
* [[Cereo Company|Cereo]], an early commercially produced baby food, was manufactured in the early 1900s by Macy Deming at the Haring Adams (Deming) House.
* The Tappan Fire Department's 100th anniversary was celebrated on October 13, 2007, with a [[Mardi Gras]]-style parade, complete with beaded necklaces and confetti. The [[Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch)|Budweiser]] [[Clydesdale horse]]s made an appearance.