What's Cornwall like? (Monroe, Newburgh, Wallkill: skateboarding, crime rate, how much)

[jwhalen]

Is this near West Point? How is the area in terms of housing, schools, crime? Is it an easy commute to NYC from here? Thanks for the info.

[Jason_Els]

Cornwall is pretty cool. It's one of the wealthier areas of Orange county. The closer you get to the water, the more expensive things get because the views of the Hudson Highlands are just stunning. Cornwall has good restaurants, a nice small village center, and good schools. Housing isn't cheap, but there's little crime.

West Point is quite close but the road from Cornwall to West Point is not for those suffering from acrophobia though it is one of the prettiest drives in the region. Be aware that it sometimes closes on rainy days or when there are rock slides. It's cut into the side of the rather sheer mountains. West Point has concerts and a theater but the real treat (if you're a vet) is shopping the Commissary and Exchange for prices Wal-Mart can only imagine in their dreams. Another wonderful treat is the July 4 celebration. The Academy band plays in a bandshell right over the river and the finale is a medley of patriotic songs while fireworks are launched from near the river. They save the 1812 Overture for the end and it's pretty amazing since West Point is one of the only places in the world you can hear the 1812 Overture with howitzers. The Hudson Highlands are one of the most beautiful parts of the country and to see the deep blue/black of the gentle river in the last minutes of twilight winding through the purple and green mountains, with the fireworks, the brass band, and the howitzers is a memory of a lifetime.

The commute is not easy. There is no train from Cornwall but you can drive to one in about half an hour. Trains bring you to Hoboken and from there to Penn Station. Here are the train and bus schedules for the region:

http://www.njtransit.com/sf_tr_schedules.shtml# (broken link)

http://www.njtransit.com/sf_bu_schedules.shtml (broken link)

Cornwall is trying to get a new express bus to service commuters there.

[winnie]

You can take 9 down to the Harriman exit (use mapquest to get your directions) and then either hop the bus for the 1:10 ride (on a good day) or drive to NYC, which can be really quick, or painfully slow. On a good day I would say you could drive to many parts of NYC in an hour. On a bad day it can be 2.5 hours easily.

It is a nice area, pretty, rural, expensive and while being one of the closer towns to West Point you will find like Jason said, that the drive can be nauseating and most who know the storm king mountain road will agree that it can be very dangerous in the winter, many times the roads down near WP are closed entirely. There is a division of St Lukes Cornwall Hospital off rte 9 and there are many houses on decent acerage up there, though you will pay a nice price for living in cornwall.

Monroe is a great town in the area, with good schools and better access to transportation. As is Washingtonville. Cornwall is nice, just get a feel for how much driving you can deal with. In the winter the roads over there can be a pain.

[PeterH]

Cornwall is about 10-15 minutes from the City of Newburgh. Newburgh is one of NY's most depressed towns. High crime rate, drugs, prostitutes, all the big city garbage in a city of about 35,000.
My favorite memory of Newburgh was in the summer of 1999, dozens of dead and dying pit bulls were found all over the streets. Professional dog fighting. These thugs were stealing dogs and cats from surrounding suburban communities for training the dogs, so lots of nice cats and dogs from places like Cornwall were turning up dead in Newburgh.
Keep in mind while Cornwall is nothing like Newburgh, it is only 10-15 minutes away by car. Do you want this depraved life so close to your home?

[jwhalen]

Hey, thanks for the responses. I'll definitely check out Monroe, it might work out better for us.

[jwhalen]

Hey Peter, Newburgh sounds really depressing. Thanks for the heads-up!

[winnie]

I would recommend Monroe over Cornwall unless you find a really nice house in Cornwall that you can't pass up. Monroe is just a quicker hop to NYC makes more sense in your situation.

[cathy710]

I have lived in the Cornwall / Monroe area my whole life with the past 20 years living in Cornwall on Hudson. There is absolutely no comparison between Monroe and Cornwall. Cornwall is a small friendly, family oriented, quaint community nestled in the valley off the main highway. You can always find people out jogging and / or walking at all hours... one even feels safe walking the street late at night. The school district is smaller than Monroe and is rated high in the state. Town activities include window painting on Halloween, fishing derby at the town pond, holiday celebrations, lighting of the Christmas trees, Santa visiting the neighborhoods, learning about nature at the museum, Jones Farm for hay rides, eating their homemade fudge, petting the animals and seeing “Polly” the pig, just to name a few things. Free concerts at the parks in the summer, ball dropping at Nicky’s, with hundreds of people filling into the square to enjoy the music and excitement of New Years. Hugh firework display on July 4th, with all day fun activities that thousands of people pile into Cornwall to partake. The park down by the river one can canoe, boat, fish, picnic or just sit and view the beautiful mountains. This is just to name a few things....

Try finding that in Monroe!

True we are close to Newburgh but the description describing Newburgh was a little excessive and exaggerated. Compare Cornwall’s crime rate to Monroe and you’ll find you’re safer in Cornwall!

[winnie]

Cathy, how long would it take to get from Cornwall to Monroe's park and ride? Just curious because I have never done it before and I do not trust Mapquest's estimates one bit...

I do like Cornwall it just seems like the commute would be much longer than that from Washingtonville or Monroe.

Goshen is also quite nice and many of the towns I am familiar with in the area do have quaint activities on the holidays..I am particularly fond of going apple picking up in Wallkill.

[SouthboundSoon]

Originally Posted by winnie

Cathy, how long would it take to get from Cornwall to Monroe's park and ride? Just curious because I have never done it before and I do not trust Mapquest's estimates one bit...

I do like Cornwall it just seems like the commute would be much longer than that from Washingtonville or Monroe.

Goshen is also quite nice and many of the towns I am familiar with in the area do have quaint activities on the holidays..I am particularly fond of going apple picking up in Wallkill.

Hi - I live in Cornwall now. There is a train station in Salisbury Mills which borders Cornwall. You can take the train from there, you will need to switch trains eventually (I believe in Hoboken). OR, you can go across the bear mtn. bridge to Garrison and take the train straight down to NYC. That is the way I go, and it's very easy, no traffic to deal with. Some more thoughts comparing Cornwall and Monroe - Monroe is a much bigger town than Cornwall. Here, in my opinion, it's more family oriented. The schools are small, and like someone else said one of the best in NY. In my years of living here, I haven't heard of anyone driving down from Newburgh to start trouble in Cornwall. (I never heard about that disturbing dog incident, I do believe it happend, just never heard about it). From reading the local paper, it seems our biggest problem here is kids skateboarding at the elementary school after hours. I'll take it!