Thompson Ridge, New York is a hamlet in the Town of Crawford

Crawford, New York

Crawford is a town in Orange County, New York, USA. The population was 7,875 at the 2000 census. The name comes a settler who gave his name to a community in the town now called Pine Bush....

, part of Orange County

Orange County, New York

Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area and is located at the northern reaches of the New York metropolitan area. The county sits in the state's scenic Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, USA. It has the ZIP Code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 10985, and is located along NY 302

New York State Route 302

New York State Route 302 is a state highway in northern Orange County, New York, United States. The southern terminus of the route is at an intersection with NY 17M north of the city of Middletown...

 south of Pine Bush

Pine Bush, New York

Pine Bush is a hamlet located in the Town of Crawford, and Shawangunk, New York, in Orange/Ulster Counties, New York, U.S., roughly coterminous with the 12566 ZIP code and 744 telephone exchange in the 845 area code Pine Bush is a hamlet (and census-designated place) located in the Town of...

, Crawford's main population center.

It takes its name from the Thompson family, early settlers of the region. The houses of Alexander

Alexander Thompson House

The Alexander Thompson House is one of several originally built by members of the Thompson family in Thompson Ridge, a hamlet in the Town of Crawford in Orange County, New York. It is located, like the others, along NY 302 just south of the intersection with Thompson Ridge Road.It is split between...

, Andrew

Andrew Thompson Farmstead

The Andrew Thompson Farmstead is one of three Registered Historic Places associated with the eponymous family along NY 302 in Thompson Ridge, an unincorporated section of the Town of Crawford in Orange County, New York....

 and Robert Thompson

Robert A. Thompson House

The Robert A. Thompson House is located along NY 302 in the Thompson Ridge section of the Orange County, New York, town of Crawford. It was built in 1822 in the Federal style. One of the stones in the northwest cable bears his initials and that date....

 still stand along 302.

As its name suggests, much of Thompson Ridge is elevated, providing sweeping views of the Shawangunk Ridge

Shawangunk Ridge

The Shawangunk Ridge , also known as the Shawangunk Mountains or The Gunks, is a ridge of bedrock in Ulster County, Sullivan County and Orange County in the state of New York, extending from the northernmost point of New Jersey to the Catskill Mountains.The ridgetop, which widens considerably at...

 over the valley of the Shawangunk Kill

Shawangunk Kill

The Shawangunk Kill is a stream that flows northward through Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties, New York, in the United States. It is the largest tributary of the Wallkill River....

. A small downtown section, with the post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

, is along Thompson Ridge Road just east of its junction with 302.