Question About Orange County and Rockland County (New York, Newburgh: how much, garden)

[Pike]

I was taking an alternate route to Hartford.
I had to take RT-17 in NJ to 287 by Sloatsburg to I-84.

Most of the times when I have driven to CT through Rockland it has been by the Garden State to the Tappen Zee.
While the area looks rocky, it defintely looks suburban.

When I drove this route however, it was different.
It really did not look like, upon entering Rockland at I-287 in Sloatsburg, like I was in the suburban NY region.

It looked very rocky, hilly, and not developed.
It looked rural.
This pretty much continued all the way up I-87 until I got to Newburgh where there seemed to development and sprawl.

I wanted to know
1) Is Orange County, New York rural/suburban/sprawling?
-It seems very confusing because it has a large population (400,000) but it also has a big amount of land to lower the density AND aside from Newburgh...off I-87 it looks quite rural.
2) Is Rockland County, NY rural at all?
-I know the eastern part if not, but what about western and northern Rockland?
-Again from I-87 it looked quite rural...was this the case or is it an illusion?
3) Overall it just seems odd.
-Driving through NJ on the turnpike and Garden State there is no question when you are in a rural or suburban area, and the same is true on I-287 and I-95 in Westchester.
-However, Rockland and Orange County really DO NOT look at all from the road like North Jersey/Southern Westchester...they really look like say Front Royal, VA.
-So what's the deal...if they aren't rural then how come they have that vibe?

[LINative]

Originally Posted by Pike

I was taking an alternate route to Hartford.
I had to take RT-17 in NJ to 287 by Sloatsburg to I-84.

Most of the times when I have driven to CT through Rockland it has been by the Garden State to the Tappen Zee.
While the area looks rocky, it defintely looks suburban.

When I drove this route however, it was different.
It really did not look like, upon entering Rockland at I-287 in Sloatsburg, like I was in the suburban NY region.

It looked very rocky, hilly, and not developed.
It looked rural.
This pretty much continued all the way up I-87 until I got to Newburgh where there seemed to development and sprawl.

I wanted to know
1) Is Orange County, New York rural/suburban/sprawling?
-It seems very confusing because it has a large population (400,000) but it also has a big amount of land to lower the density AND aside from Newburgh...off I-87 it looks quite rural.
2) Is Rockland County, NY rural at all?
-I know the eastern part if not, but what about western and northern Rockland?
-Again from I-87 it looked quite rural...was this the case or is it an illusion?
3) Overall it just seems odd.
-Driving through NJ on the turnpike and Garden State there is no question when you are in a rural or suburban area, and the same is true on I-287 and I-95 in Westchester.
-However, Rockland and Orange County really DO NOT look at all from the road like North Jersey/Southern Westchester...they really look like say Front Royal, VA.
-So what's the deal...if they aren't rural then how come they have that vibe?

That area of the I-87 (NYS Thruway) runs through the New York-New Jersey Highlands and contains several large state parks including Harriman, Bear Mountain and Sterling Forest. The Highlands are low lying mountains and are part of the Appalachian mountains (yeah I know that close to NYC!). As for Orange County, it has alot of good farmland and is a mixture of suburban and rural right now. But with three interstates crossing the county one has to wonder how much farmland will be left in 50 years.