How Breakneck Ridge + Mount Taurus Got Their Names

Have you ever wondered how some of the places in the Hudson Valley got their names?  

Here we will explore how Bull Hill or Mount Taurus and Breakneck Ridge got their names in the first edition of Smitty History.

When you think of Bull Hill, you can only assume that a bull was involved with naming the mountain.

Well, that's exactly right, at least according to legend. A book titled Brief Summer Rambles Near Philadelphia was published in 1882 by Joel Cook. In it, Cook details the legend:

Mount Taurus is modernized from Bull Hill, so called because a wild bull was once chased by the indignant inhabitants across to the other mountain, where he fell and broke his neck. Thus one adventure named two mountains, but the moderns have not yet applied the Latinized name for a broken neck to the farther hill.

Is it possible that one bull is responsible for naming both Bull Hill and Breakneck Ridge?