The Patrick Farm property area is located within the Town of Ramapo, which was created in 1791 when the towns of Clarkstown and Ramapo split off from the Town of Haverstraw. These municipalities, together with the towns of Orange and Stony Point, formed Rockland County, New York, in 1798, when they seceded from Orange County. For a time the Town of Ramapo was known as Town of Hempstead, but this name created confusion with the “Town of Hempstead” on Long Island and, by 1829, the name was changed to “Ramapo.”
The Patrick Farm area lies just to the south of the hamlet of Ladentown, named after one Michael Laden, a nail cutter from the Ramapo Iron Works. It is mainly situated on old Route 202—also called the Suffern/Haverstraw road. This route was laid primarily on an old Indian Trail, excepting in the abundantly swampy areas, where it veered to higher ground, and subsequently was used by troops of the Revolutionary Army. The French troops of General Rochambeau marched on this road as they returned from the decisive Battle of Yorktown. NYS Route 306, Ladentown Road, which today forms part of the eastern boundary of the Patrick Farm site, did not exist at the extreme northern end, shown on the 1884 map depicting main roads in Ramapo, probably because of the swampy areas.
Camp Hill, an early community located just to the northeast of Ladentown, has strong local and national historical interest — Continental troops encamped here for a brief period during the American Revolution. It is also believed that General Lafayete camped in the area of Camp Hill Road after the Battle of Monmouth. This location is now designated an historic site by the Town of Ramapo.
On the 1854 O’Conner map with the Patrick Farm area included, five early structures are shown, four of which are labeled – G. Onderdonk, W. Furman, A. Mather and J. Mather. Other names appear on the 1859 Map of Orange and Rockland Counties, NY-– D. Smith, R. T. Allison and Wm. Seaman. Currently, there remain foundations, walls and a well from the J. Mather farmstead as well as a Conklin cemetery with many stones, some legible. A small archeological site near the Mather house has so far produced some 900 artifacts from a recent dig, including a Fox Creek stemmed projectile point; porcelain dolls head, and many tools and ceremonial/ornamental objects.
Historical research indicates that the Patrick Farm area has been associated with founding colonial families, particularly the Onderdonks and the Conklins, ca. late seventeenth century. The Conklin’s (Concklin) farm in Pomona is the oldest fruit farm in the United States, run by the family since 1717, and is listed as an Historic Site and Landmark for the Town of Ramapo.