Chapters
Chapter Summaries
With each chapter we time travel through the history of the New York City borough of Staten Island, by car and foot; and via libraries and archives - with their books, maps and lectures – to the very beginnings of Native and European settlements which are still tangible today.
Chapter 1
In chapter 1, it was not enough to know that the Dutch were the first to attempt a colony on Staten Island; there were still underlying questions that had answers; of who, where, and when – and for the author the thrill of the chase was on!
That one can actually go to their “stepping off” place, stand where they disembarked and set up a farming colony is to be transported to a world of brave voyagers from centuries ago. Because the landscape the first arrivals experienced is largely unchanged, we can get a sense of a virgin Staten Island and the gentle incursion of a new people, even though the first attempts at settlement infancy were smothered in their infancy.
As one new world unfolded, we get a chance ponder and appreciate the existence of a native people who, for eons untold, populated, farmed, hunted, and roamed some of the very roadways and towns we know today; and are poised to witness the demise of one culture at the expense of another.
Chapter 2
Previous historians have well-chronicled the date and location of Staten Island’s first permanent settlement, followed by those who continued to arrive during the late seventeenth century. What seems to escape explanation, but had occurred to the author, is the reason people were slow to group themselves closer to one another – to be near and aid their neighbors in times of birth, illness, death, or just to have simple company. The theory for that is explored in the chapter titled “First Town – First Inroads,” including a 1679 documented record of the eye-opening journey of two travelers through the wilderness that the Island still was at that time. It becomes a fascinating portal of time to peer through and reflect upon at our earliest beginnings.
Chapter 3
The experiences that eventually became the book titled “Our Staten Island” were the result of a brother and sister’s passionate journey of learning the history of the place they were born and raised. It was from the offerings of previous historians: their books, booklets, periodicals and maps, that informed their journey; and since so much of that information had been referenced in the first two chapters, chapter three was a fitting place to introduce the reader to some of the people, both past and present, who were as interesting and passionate about the works they produced, and are an intimate addition to this book.
Chapter 4
The endearing imagery of a quaint little “factory” slapping the waters of a dammed-up stream, or the spinning of great vanes against a vast, open sky goes to a place in centuries past; a place where I am most happy and often dwell. The thought of their presence on Staten Island, and the proof of their existence was almost too much and because of that emotion, they brought their story to me in a most serendipitous and satisfying way. I know their story now; the first begun by one colonial governor and finished by the next, and where they filled in Staten Island’s watery landscape. I could not wait to relate the story of their existence, and by means of images, show then for what they were.
Chapter 5
In this chapter, we left behind the museums and archives, the news clippings and books, and took to the old roads: the ancient Indian trails used by the first settlers, some of which are the very roads we use in our travels today.
By walking the old roads, we relived and felt closer to the history that unfolded over these old bones over the centuries. It is a chapter that takes the reader on a deep, long, and satisfying journey into the past.
Chapter 6
Of over sixty towns on Staten Island, I wrote of five: three that I have lived in, and two others that can go back to the first person and structure, giving themselves up as the very old towns that they began as.
On this journey I’ve dwelt in their slow growth over the centuries; using maps, images, and the written words of our borough’s historians to provide a near-seamless picture of the then and now. It is time travel at its best.
Chapter 7
On our journey through history that became this book, we were continually surprised – and graced – with bits and pieces of information that seemingly came from nowhere, but were much welcomed. It happened often enough as to produce a chapter on some of those occurrences.
Chapter 8
This chapter was written to ponder and appreciate the lives of the native people who lived on Staten Island. Having no written history of their own, we relied on the remnants of their culture; burial sites and the hidden relics of their existence to tell the story of where and how they lived.
As the final chapter in “Our Staten Island,” we come full circle to their demise here with the arrival of the European settler.