They’re alive and well, thriving and protected in New York State.
True; along the NJ/NY border timber rattlers are one of the two poisonous snakes (the other being copperheads, which are more dangerous only because they are thick and sluggish - hard for them to get clear before you’re upon them).
Some of them near West Point.
The author has some interesting stories about the conservation efforts local herpetologists have made to preserve them in the state.