Welcome to Surprise ...
Surprise is located in Greene County<1>.
While we don't have a date for the founding of Surprise, you might consider that their post office opened in 1889.
Surprise is 540 feet [165 m] above sea level.<2>.
Time Zone: Surprise lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time
Area Codes for Surprise: 518 & 838<3>
Communities Also Named Surprise ...
Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 10 communities that are also named Surprise - they are located in Arizona, British Columbia, California, Indiana, Kansas (2), Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.
For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Surprise.
Websites for Surprise ...
Chamber of Commerce: www.greenecounty-chamber.com/
Although we don't have any websites that are specific to Surprise, the following might be of interest:
Communities near Surprise ...
We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Surprise.
- Hudson
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
- Catskill
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Catskill have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catskill
- Catskill is located in Greene County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,815 people
- Ravena
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Voorheesville
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Coxsackie
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Valatie
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Chatham
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chatham have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chatham
- Chatham is located in Columbia County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,623 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chatham <4>
- Athens
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Castleton-on-Hudson
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Castleton-on-Hudson have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castleton-on-Hudson
- Castleton-on-Hudson is located in Rensselaer County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,451 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Castleton-on-Hudson <4>
- Philmont
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.
We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Surprise. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Surprise.
Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Surprise. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Surprise.
We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Surprise. See our Newspapers Page for Surprise.
TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Surprise ...
Looking for more information about Surprise? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.
In addition to the Tourism page for Surprise, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Surprise.
Adding Surprise to Our Gazetteer ...
We originally found mention of Surprise in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.
From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Surprise was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>
From that list, the Surprise post office opened in 1889.
We also found Surprise in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).
For more details, see References and Mentions for Surprise.
Footnotes ...
| <1> | If you're interested in how the shape of New York's counties, including Greene, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. |
| <2> | The elevation is an estimate for the area around Surprise - it will be higher in some places and lower in others. |
| <3> | When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 518 code has been Overlayed with the 838 area code. New phone numbers in the Surprise area will be assigned with one of these codes: 518 or 838. As a result, placing a call in the Surprise area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number). |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <6> | A copy of their list with background information can be found at:
https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/ |