What We Do in Staten Island

Ahh Staten Island. Some of you reading this are wondering what is Staten Island? Well, since I know you aren’t going to read this lovely link I have left for you, I will give you a quick summary before I get into my usual thing.

Staten Island is one of the five (and most poorly known by non-New Yorkers) boroughs of New York City. The Dutch originally attempted colonization on the island, only to find the local tribes hostile to their invasion plans. Still work continued, and by the end of the 17^th century, the island of Staten Island was an English colony, partially populated by Dutch settlers.

Other important points in Staten Island history include the building of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the opening, closing, reopening and reclosing of the Fresh Kills Landfill, the New Wing of the Staten Island Mall (built at some point in the early 90s, yet still has that new Mall smell) and Staten Island’s role in the American Revolution:

The island played a significant role in the American Revolution. In the summer of 1776, the British forces under William Howe evacuated Boston and prepared to attack New York City. Howe used the strategic location of Staten Island as a staging ground for the attack. Howe established his headquarters in New Dorp at the Rose and Crown tavern near the junction of present New Dorp Lane and Amboy Road. It is here that the representatives of the British government reportedly received their first notification of the Declaration of Independence.

The following month, in August 1776, the British forces crossed the Narrows to Brooklyn and routed the American forces under George Washington at the Battle of Long Island, resulting in the British capture of New York. Three weeks later, on September 11, 1776, the British received a delegation of Americans consisting of Benjamin Franklin, Edward Rutledge, and John Adams at the Conference House on the southwestern tip of the island (known today as Tottenville) on the former estate of Christopher Billop. The Americans refused the peace offer from the British in exchange for the withdrawal of the Declaration of Independence, however, and the conference ended without an agreement.

British forces remained on Staten Island throughout the war. Although local sentiment was predominately Loyalist, the islanders found the demands of supporting the troops to be onerous. Many buildings and churches were destroyed, and the military demand for resources resulted in an extensive deforestation of the island by the end of the war. The British again used the island as a staging ground for their final evacuation of New York City on December 5, 1783. After the war, the largest Loyalist landowners fled to Canada and their estates were subdivided and sold.

But still that doesn’t answer the question of this blog post. On Saturday I spent the day hanging out with my good friends Mike and Angela for what turned out to be a usual Staten Island day of relaxing, playing too many hours of games, watching movies, hanging Christmas lights, buying Christmas trees, playing with Max, eating some good Italian food (hey, its not called the Guinea Gangplank for nothing), chilling out and generally doing nothing in what I always called the perfect backup shooting location for America Beauty.

Wisdom of the Day: The SIRTOA is actually considered a MTA subway line.