page_title: Bellvale, New York
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Bellvale, New York / Geography
caption_attribution_description: Bellvale [Village]; Warwick [Township]; Florida [Village]; Atlases of the United States / New York / County atlas of Orange, New York / from actual surveys by and under the direction of F.W. Beers. Note: cropped from .tiff version
context_page_description: Bellvale is a wooded hamlet in the town of Warwick in Orange County, New York, United States. Situated in the morning shadow of Bellvale Mountain along New York State Route 17A, Bellvale was the site of an iron forge destroyed by British Army soldiers in 1750; many of its homes and other structures date from before American independence. While close to New York City, its location in the Warwick Valley has prevented suburban development.
context_section_description: Bellvale is bisected by New York State Route 17A, though one of its older streets, Pumpkin Hill Road, lies along the path of the historic Tuxedo to Warwick road, improved by Continental Army engineers in 1779. Wooden bridges were constructed across Long House creek for the Tuxedo road and on Iron Forge Road, both later replaced by stone arch bridges, now modern concrete structures. Cascade Road begins at NY17A and follows the creek's cascade south for much of its course upward toward its sources along the ridgetop lakes and marshes of the Bearfort Ridge; the Cascade Park community lies hidden in these mountains along this road.
  Eastward of Bellvale Route 17A's roadway rises steeply, passing an active ski resort below the summit of the steep and ancient ridge. Bellvale flags, Middle Devonian layers of sandstone were first identified by N.H. Darton in 1894 in this area. A hawkwatch tower crowns the peak of Mount Peter and the Appalachian Trail crosses the highway on the east face of Bellvale Mountain to the south and Bearfort Mountain to the north. A local dairy in the valley below provides the milk for an ice cream parlor serving passing Appalachian Trail hikers and motorists. After crossing the ridgeline NY17A descends toward the village of Greenwood Lake, where it turns eastward again toward Sterling Forest.
  Northward, Lower Wisner Road, named from a prominent early valley family, forks left at the location of Crawley's destroyed mill; Iron Forge Road passes Iron Forge Inn, a restaurant based in a 1760-built grist mill  and the former Bellvale United Methodist Church, which had served Bellvale residents as a church for more than 150 years (beginning in 1853). Westward, NY17A rises and falls on foothill ridges of nearby Mount Warwick, passing historic homes and apple orchards before entering the Village of Warwick.
caption: 1875 map of Warwick, with Bellvale and Florida
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