Ossining is located in
Westchester County between Nyack and Croton-on-Hudson in the
Southern Region of the state. Ossining is located North of
New York City on the east banks of the
Hudson River and is accessible via Hwy 9. Once known as Sing Sing, it changed its name to avoid association with the penitentiary. Ossining is part of the
New York, New York metro area.
Its name derives from Ojibway term for "stones" and was settled by Dutch and French Huguenots in the late 1600s.
Sing Sing Prison was built here in 1825, by convicts brought in from Auburn Prison. The community, formerly called Sing Sing, changed its name to Ossining in 1901.
