| New York (Richmond County), Staten Island — Battery Duane — Fort Wadsworth — Gateway Nat’l Rec Area |
| | Crumbling over time, these concrete platforms mark where large guns once guarded New York Harbor. In the late 1800s, a Glacis Mortar Battery – once located just beyond these ruins – could lob projectiles onto enemy ships entering the Narrows below, although no vessels ever dared. Battery Duane, built here in 1895-97 as part of the Endicott Coastal Defense System, replaced the mortar battery with five 8-inch-diameter rifled guns. Mounted on “disappearing” carriages, . . . — Map (db m21647) |
| New York (Richmond County), Staten Island — Battery Weed — Fort Wadsworth — Gateway Nat’l Rec Area |
| | Begun in 1847, this granite structure was finally completed during the Civil War. Its four-tier design allowed up to 116 guns to skip cannonballs across the Narrows. However, by the mid-1860s bigger, more-accurate guns could destroy a stone fort like this. Comprised, it became obsolete almost before its last stones were laid. First named Fort Richmond – after an earlier New York State-built fort on the same site – it was renamed in 1865 for Brt. Maj. Gen. James Wadsworth, who was . . . — Map (db m21627) |
| New York (Richmond County), Staten Island — Billopp House — Landmarks of New York |
| | Built by and for Christopher Billopp about 1680, this house was long a center of colonial hospitality. It is known also as “Conference House” because Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge met here with Lord Howe at his request on September 11, 1776, in an unsuccessful effort to halt the American Revolution.
Plaque erected 1958 by
The New York City Community Trust — Map (db m7891) |
| New York (Richmond County), Staten Island — Conference House |
| | In September 1776, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge met here with British Lord Howe in an unsuccessful negotiation for peace. Revolutionary War Heritage Trail — Map (db m8727) |
| New York (Richmond County), Staten Island — Defending New York Harbor |
| | “ . . . [the Narrows are] the place pointed out by nature for the defense of the harbor . . . ” Prussian General Friedrich von Steuben, Aide to General George Washington during the Revolutionary War How do you protect one of the world’s busiest ports? This question has challenged military leaders for centuries. In 1776, the British landed unopposed on Staten Island, captured New York City, fortified this point, and occupied the area until the Revolutionary War . . . — Map (db m21624) |
| New York (Richmond County), Staten Island — Dry Moat and Counterscarp — Fort Wadsworth — Gateway Nat’l Rec Area |
| | From 1859 to 1876, army engineers built these 30-foot-high granite walls to form this corridor. In military terms, Fort Tompkin’s scarp (wall to your right) now faced a counterscarp (wall to your left), creating a 30-foot-wide dry moat. When originally built, the counterscarp extended behind you to protect Fort Tompkins’ back and sides from land-based attacks. Within the counterscarp, a gallery allowed soldiers to shoot through the wall’s vertical slots as well as from behind . . . — Map (db m21648) |
| New York (Richmond County), Staten Island — Fort Tompkins — Fort Wadsworth — Gateway Nat’l Rec Area |
| | Two forts, both named Fort Tompkins, have occupied this hill. In 1814 the state of New York started the first Fort Tompkins – a pentagon-shaped stone structure with round bastions at each of the five angles. Never fully completed, the first fort lay deserted by the 1840s. The U.S. Army built this second Fort Tompkins from 1859 to 1876 using granite, brick, and sandstone. Originally designed to protect Battery Weed below, the fort mounted only one large gun. Fort Tompkins’ main role was . . . — Map (db m21630) |
| New York (Richmond County), Staten Island — Fort Wadsworth |
| | This strategic coastal location at the Narrows was used as the staging ground for the massive British invasion of Brooklyn in August 1776. Revolutionary War Heritage Trail — Map (db m21608) |
| New York (Richmond County), Staten Island — Fort Wadsworth / — Gateway National Recreation Area |
| | Fort Wadsworth side:
Point, counterpoint. As one nation improves its offensive weapons, another revamps its defenses. It’s the story of military history, and Fort Wadsworth tells it as well as any place in America. British soldiers built the first known defenses on these bluffs in 1779. By controlling the Narrows, they secured New York throughout the Revolutionary War. Soon after the British left in 1783, the newly independent Americans moved in. Over the next two centuries, the United . . . — Map (db m21694) |
| New York (Richmond County), Staten Island — Historic Fort Wadsworth — Since 1636 |
| | As its discoverer in 1574, Verrazzano observed the surrounding terrain and called it Agoleme. Upon this high ground Lenape Indians gazed down on Hudson’s Half Moon as it sailed through the Narrows in 1609. In 1636, the Dutch erected the first block house, destroyed by Indians in 1655 and re-built in 1663 - one year before the Duke of York’s men took possession of the territory. The British enlarged the fort and maintained control of the entire area until their departure in 1763. . . . — Map (db m19370) |
| New York (Richmond County), Staten Island — Rose and Crown Tavern |
| | Tablet marking the site of the
Rose and Crown Tavern
Erected by The Huguenois in 1665
Demolished in 1854
This Inn was occupied
during the Revolution by
General William Howe
as his Headquarters and here the
Declaration of Independence
was read to the British Officers
July 9, 1776 — Map (db m10594) |
| New York (Richmond County), Staten Island — Staten Island World War I Memorial |
| | Front inscription: America over the top
Rear inscription: Erected by the residents of Public School Dist. 26 in honor of the 75 men who left to fight in the great World War. We lovingly inscribe the names of those who paid the supreme sacrifice.
Edward Bogdanowis • Byron W Decker • Walter C Ivey • Harold Laub • Hugo Maibauer • Leslie N Morgan • Stephen Petro • Christopher Rogers • Abraham Van Pelt — Map (db m19261) |
| New York (Richmond County), Staten Island — The Conference House |
| | < Lower Plaque: >
Long known as “The Billopp House” built before 1700 In this house on September 11, 1776 after the Battle of Long Island a Peace Conference was held between Lord Howe, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge. --------------------------------- Erected by Abraham Cole Chapter Richmond County Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution May 25, 1929 < Upper Plaque: > The Conference House has been designated a Registered National Historic . . . — Map (db m7889) |
| New York (Richmond County), Staten Island — Verrazano – Narrows Bridge |
| | “We found a pleasant place below steep little hills. And from among those hills a mighty deep-mouthed river ran into the sea.” Giovanni da Verrazano, Italian explorer, 1524 Until the 1960s, the only way from Brooklyn to Staten Island was by water – first by Indian canoes, then boats and ferries. A railroad tunnel was started from Brooklyn in 1923, but never completed. Plans for a vehicular tunnel were studied in 1929 and 1942, but dropped. Finally, in 1946, . . . — Map (db m22320) |
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