Staten Island’s Greenbelt Preserve

The Staten Island Greenbelt is not only an impressive 1352 acre oasis encompassing a broad crosscut of landscapes ranging from forest, meadows, to both fresh and saltwater marshes.  It’s a monument to open space preservation amid intense urban development pressures.  This is the place to escape if you want the Catskills without getting in your car and heading up the Thruway.

High Rock Park Trail Deep in the Heart of Staten Island

Thanks to the foresight and determination of residents beginning in 1964 with the opening of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, much of the area’s natural terrain is still contiguous and intact.  Woodlands were voraciously being cleared and tidal wetlands filled at an alarming rate to make way for the Richmond Parkway.

High Rock Park, established in 1965, is the centerpiece and excellent starting point for exploring all that this greenbelt has to offer.  Here you’ll discover a striking old fieldstone house, built in the early 1900’s by the Tonking family which now serves as the Greenbelt Conservancy headquarters at the end of a long driveway surrounded by forest and meandering trails. 

Today, the former Tonking House sits on the 77 acres that comprise High Rock Park, a microcosm of the entire island’s original habitat such as tidal and freshwater wetlands, woodlands, open fields, and meadows retained in their native state.  You’ll see an outcropping of serpentine bedrock, a dense, waxy, green and brown rock is that’s rarely exposed above the surface. Kettle holes, steep hills and large boulders mark long ago glacial activity.

Trees range from red maple,-sweet gum swamp forests, to upland oak groves.  Depending on the season, native orchids and other rare plants can be found growing alongside one of the many trails encircling the preserve.  Sometimes I find that I actually have to pinch myself as a reminder that all this is indeed on Staten Island and not in Upstate New York.

By Subway: Trains W, R to Whitehall Street/South Ferry or 1,9 to South Ferry or 4,5 to Bowling Green. Then take the Staten Island Ferry. From the ferry, take bus S61, S62 or S66 to the intersections of Victory Blvd and Manor Rd. Transfer to the S54 bus on Manor Rd and exit at Nevada Ave. Walk up Nevada Ave. through the parking lot and up the hill to the park.  Admission is free.

photo courtesy of Staten Island Greenbelt Conservancy