Annadale, Staten Island

Annadale

Named in 1860 for Anna Seguine, a descendant French Huguenot and among the south shore's earliest settlers.

In 1929, Spanish immigrants purchased land totaling 17 acres along Annadale's shoreline that become known as Spanish camp or Spanish Colony. Dorothy Day, the social activist and leader of the Catholic Worker Movement, purchased one bungalow in 1972. By the 1990s however, developers had aggressively purchased the neighborhood's property. The sale forced 45 families to move and subsequently the demolishing of the buildings for upscale homes. The new development, named Central Park East preserves solely the street grid.

A city park in the heart of Annadale was converted into a wildlife preserve. Blue Heron Park Preserve covers 222 acres of woodlands, ponds, swamps and small streams which empty into Raritan Bay.

The intersection of Annadale Road and Jefferson Blvd. form a triangle of green space. This fell under the jurisdiction of the Staten Island Borough President in 1962 but was transferred to the City's Department of Parks and Recreation and received renovations. In 1998, its name was changed from Annadale Park to Annadale Green. In 1953, a World War II memorial was erected here and in 1962 a Korean War memorial was mounted to a boulder within the Green.

Sweet Brook, fed by a pond to the south of Jefferson Blvd flows north toward Arden Avenue and features an identifying sign at Edgegrove Avenue across a rock-faced bridge.

An Arbutus tree with it's bright spring fruits. | Jym Dyer

Opposite Kingdom Avenue is Arbutus Creek. Also nearby, Arbutus Woods Park and Arbutus Avenue are named for a native species that became locally extinct in the 1940s.

Stuyvesant Square Park, Manhattan

Stuyvesant Square (1930) New York Public Library Stuyvesant Square Park is a park spanning from East 15th Street north to East 17th Street and from Rutherford Place east to Nathan D. Perlman Place. The square is commonly thought to be named for Peter Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherlands until it was ceded to English control in 1664. It is actually named for Peter Gerard Stuyvesant. Stuyvesant Square (1905) Museum of the City of New York The park lies within what was the Stuyvesant family farm. The farm once stretched from the Bowery to the East River and from 3rd Street to 14th Street. The park itself is in the approximate location of the original Stuyvesant family mansion. Randel Farm Map 1818-1820 In 1836, Peter Gerard Stuyvesant and his wife Hellen Rutherford reserved four acres of the family farm and sold it to the City of New York for $5 as a public park, with the proviso that the City of New York build a fen

Kingsbridge Armory, The Bronx

Looking west at the Kingsbridge Armory on July 21, 1914. Museum of the City of New York Kingsbridge Armory Also known as the Eighth Regiment Armory located on West Kingsbridge Road. It was built in the 1910s to house the National Guard's Eighth Coastal Artillery Regiment which relocated from Manhattan in 1917. Possibly the largest armory in the World. After World War II, the City offered it to the United Nations as a temporary meeting place. Looking northeast at the Kingsbridge Armory on July 18, 1914 Museum of the City of New York In 1911, the New York State Legislature authorized construction of the Armory using an excavated area that was planned to have been the eastern basin for Jerome Park Reservoir. Some military artifacts were unearther in the area, believed to have been from nearby Revolutionary War forts including Independence and Number Five. After the second world war, the City offered it's use to the United Nations General

Ferry Point Park, The Bronx

Ferry Point Park is a park located in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx along the East River and Westchester Creek. The park spans 413.8 acres. The neighborhood " Throggs Neck " takes its name from John Throgmorton who obtained a license on October 6, 1642 from Niew Amsterdam's Governor to settle in the area. The area served primarily as farm land for families for the next two centuries. In 1850 the land that will become Ferry Point Park is purchased by Augustus diZerega and Jacob Lorillard, a shipping tycoon and a tobacco manufacturer, respectively. In 1916, the land is sold to the Catholic House of the Good Shepherd. The east side of Ferry Point Park prior to land-filling New York Public Library 1905 The original parcel of Ferry Point Park totaled 171 acres and came under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation in 1937. It was purchased by New York City from the Roman Catholic House of the Good Shepherd during the a

5 Boros: A History of Places

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