Staten Island is an island on the east coast of the United States of America. The island forms one of the five boroughs of New York City and Richmond County of the state of New York, along with several small, uninhabited islands: Pralls Island (west), Isle of Meadows (southwest), Shooters Island (north for the most part), as well as the artificial islands of Hoffman Island and Swinburne Island to the east.
Staten Island is easily accessible by public transportation and
your own vehicle.
By car
The following highways lead
to Staten Island:
Interstate Highway 278 (from Elizabeth via
Staten Island and Brooklyn to Bronx)
State Route 440 (from
Perth Amboy, NJ to Staten Island)
With the ferry
The
quickest and most convenient way to get to Staten Island from
Manhattan is with the Staten Island Ferry, which shuttles 24
hours a day between Whitehall Terminal in the Financial District
and St. George Terminal on Staten Island. Pedestrians are taken
along for free. The crossing takes 25 minutes and ferries depart
every 15-30 minutes. Parking is available, but only to a limited
extent and subject to a charge ($8 per day). Even if you don't
intend to visit Staten Island - where the average tourist
doesn't miss a thing either - be sure to take the ferry there
and back for spectacular views of the southern Manhattan
skyline. The Statue of Liberty is also passed relatively close.
The ferries have both outdoor areas and large air-conditioned or
heated indoor areas.
Staten Island (Richmond) is southwest of Manhattan and west of the
borough of Brooklyn on Long Island. To the north is Upper New York Bay
and to the east is The Narrows Canal, which separates the island from
Long Island and Lower New York Bay. The island is connected to Brooklyn
via the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge (toll towards Staten Island). The free
pedestrian Staten Island Ferry operates between Staten Island and
Manhattan. To the west and north, the island is separated from the state
of New Jersey by the narrow Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull. The name
Kill derives from the Dutch word for a channel, which there are several
variants in the region. The Goethals Bridge (toll towards Staten
Island), the Bayonne Bridge and the Outerbridge Crossing lead to New
Jersey.
The highest point on the island, Todt Hill (125 m), is
also the highest point in the city of New York.
Finds of the Clovis culture have been made on Staten Island, which suggest a 14,000-year-old settlement. In 1520, the expedition members around Giovanni da Verrazzano were the first Europeans to discover Staten Island. From 1624 to 1667 the island belonged to the Dutch colony of Nieuw Nederland and was called States of Eylandt. During this time there was a war between the Dutch settlers and the natives, the so-called Pig War. In 1667, the Netherlands ceded Staten Island to the English in the Treaty of Breda, and the island became part of New England until the United States declared independence in 1776. In 1788 the island was divided into four towns: Castleton (northeast), Northfield (northwest), Southfield (east) and Westfield (southwest). In 1860, Middleton, a fifth town, was formed from parts of Castleton and Southfield. All five cities were dissolved when Staten Island became a borough of New York in 1898. On November 21, 1964, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge was opened, connecting the island to Brooklyn, leading to rapid population growth in the decades that followed. Staten Island was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy in 2012; 24 people died.
In addition to some residential buildings worth seeing from the 17th
and 18th centuries, Staten Island also includes the Conference House
from 1680 and the Voorlezer's House from 1695, the two oldest surviving
school buildings in the USA.
Historic Richmond Town is a historic
town and museum complex in the Richmondtown neighborhood. The grounds
include over 30 historic buildings dating from the late 17th to early
20th centuries. The museum shows the colonial American style.
There are many parks such as the Staten Island Greenbelt in the central
part of the island and Wolfe's Pond Park, Great Kills Park and
Conference House Park on the southern shore. The Postcards memorial on
St. George Esplanade commemorates the residents of Staten Island who
died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The Staten
Island Ferry runs between Staten Island and Manhattan past the Statue of
Liberty.
Photographs by Alice Austen (1866-1952) are on display
in the Alice Austen House.
Six locations have National Historic
Landmark status. A total of 51 structures and sites in the county are
listed on the National Register of Historic Places as of February 20,
2018.
Museums
Garibaldi Meucci Museum
Historic Richmond
Town
Jacques Marchai's Museum of Tibetan Art
Staten Island Museum
The name comes from the Dutch State of Eylandt (“Island of Estates”), after the State of Generaal (“General States”), the parliament of the Netherlands at the time. The island belonged to the then New Amsterdam colony in Nieuw Nederland or Nova Belgica.
With a population of around 440,000, Staten Island is the most
sparsely populated borough of New York. The cityscape with suburban
character is characterized by loosely built-up residential areas and
green spaces.
The island is home to major shipyards and oil
refineries, as well as several colleges and a campus of Saint John's
University.
The Staten Island Ferry connects the St. George Terminal on Staten
Island with the Whitehall Terminal in Lower Manhattan. Since 2021, NYC
Ferry has operated the St. George Route (SG) ferry service between St.
George Terminal and the west side of Manhattan with ferry docks in
Battery Park City and Midtown West.
In the New York City area,
Staten Island is accessible from Brooklyn on Interstate 278 via the
Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Other road connections exist to New Jersey.
Here you can cross the Bayonne Bridge to Bayonne, the Goethals Bridge to
Elizabeth (Interstate 278) and the Outerbridge Crossing Bridge to Perth
Amboy (NY 440).
The Staten Island Railway runs along the east
coast of the island. The Midland Beach Railway Company operated a
miniature railway in Midland Beach circa 1903.
Since 1948, Staten Island has been home to the Fresh Kills Landfill, which served as the city of New York's central garbage dump for more than half a century. The landfill was one of the largest man-made elevations in the world and was notorious for its heavy methane gas emissions. In March 2001 it was closed after increasing protests; In 2003 the renaturation began. The rubble from the World Trade Center, which was destroyed by terrorist attacks, was stored here from 2001/2002.