WHERE: Tottenville, Staten Island
START/FINISH: Tottenville station, Staten Island Railway, fully accessible
DISTANCE: 2.89 miles (4.65 kilometers)
Photographs by Michael Cairl except as noted. Map courtesy footpathapp.org.
Map and profile of this route. Read from left to right.
The southernmost place in the state of New York is the Tottenville neighborhood of Staten Island. While it is part of New York City, it looks like a place apart, an old village in a big city, rather like City Island in the Bronx. Tottenville is a quiet, suburban place with plenty of history. It lies across the Arthur Kill from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, to which it was linked by ferry until 1963. Through traffic bypasses Tottenville, going mostly along New York/New Jersey Route 440 by way of the Outerbridge Crossing, just north of Tottenville, to two expressways on the Staten Island side. This helps Tottenville keep its village feel, its apartness. Apartness does not mean a lack of diversity, though, as becomes apparent just by looking and listening.
We started by taking the Staten Island Railway from the St. George Ferry Terminal to the last stop, Tottenville station. The Perth Amboy ferry used to run here. The walk began with a short uphill on Bentley Street. The utility poles along the street were festooned with American flags and there were many old houses with porches.
Perth Amboy, New Jersey, seen from the Tottenville train station.
Bentley Street..
Around the corner on Amboy Road are some even older houses. This one has a medallion that reads “Circa 1814.”
We continued on to Conference House Park and a number of historic houses in the park. From nycparksgov.org:
Conference House Park is a great destination for both park and history buffs. Located at the southernmost point of New York State, this park houses four historic buildings that trace the history of the borough over the course of three centuries. The Conference House, the Biddle House, the Ward House and Rutan-Beckett House all tell of a New York and an America of the past.
The Conference House, a grand stone manor house built in 1680, is named for the unsuccessful Revolutionary War peace conference that was held here on September 11, 1776 between the Americans and the English. Despite their negotiations to end the fighting, no agreement was reached and the Revolutionary War continued for another seven years.
In addition to its historic landmarks and its breathtaking views of the Raritan Bay, the 265-acre park boasts a newly refurbished playground, a Visitors Center, expanded paths and hiking and biking trails. Another great park destination is the “South Pole,” marking the southernmost point of New York State.
The first house we saw, the Biddle House, was built in 1845 by the operator of the Perth Amboy ferry. We walked inside and saw a dance class going on. More information about the house is at https://www.statenisland.guide/explore-feat/i/27681582/biddle-house-conference-house-park. Down a hill that was too steep to navigate safely was the Rutan-Becket House (1848), Read about it at https://theconferencehouse.org/the-historic-houses-of-conference-house-park/the-rutan-becket-house/.
Biddle House.
Continuing on, we saw the Ward House, which looked much older than the other two and is closed to the public.
Ward House.
The intended centerpiece of this walk, the Conference House, was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. I’ll just have to come back when it is open. From The WPA Guide to New York City (1939):
At the request of Lord Howe, the British admiral, the Continental Congress appointed a delegation of three - Benjamin Franklin (a friend of Lord Howe), John Adams, and Edward Rutledge - to met with him on September 11, 1776. The discussion proved fruitless, for the Americans refused to barter for peace unless the British granted independence to the colonies.
The delegation returned to Perth Amboy aboard Howe’s barge. As the boat entered the wharf Franklin offered some gold and silver coins to the sailors but the commanding officer intervened. “As these people are under the impression that we have not a farthing of hard money in the country,” Franklin later explained to his companions, “I thought I would convince them of their mistake. I knew at the same time that I risked nothing by an offer, which their regulation and discipline would not permit them to accept.” The group then traveled to Philadelphia, where its report was submitted to Congress.
The land on which the house stands was included in a patent of 932 acres granted in 1676 to Christopher Billopp, a British Navy captain who two years earlier had come to America with Governor Andros. In 1687 Thomas Dongan, Andros’ successor, granted the patent and an additional 668 acres to Captain Billopp as the manor of Bentley.
The house, built by Billopp prior to 1688, was for many years the island’s most imposing mansion. The property was inherited by Thomas Farmar, Jr., third son of the captain’s daughter, Anne. Under the terms of the will the heir assumed the name of Thomas Billopp. Christopher, Thomas’ eldest son, became the next proprietor of the estate. A Tory colonel, he frequently entertained British officers, including Lord Howe, and his house was kept under constant surveillance by the Americans entrenched on the New Jersey shores of the near-by Arthur Kill. At the time of the historic meeting redcoats were quartered in the mansion. Colonel Billopp did in 1827.
The house, subsequently used as a factory, fell into neglect. Many efforts were made to restore it, but none was successful until 1925, when the Conference House Association was organized. The real-estate company that had acquired the property deeded the house and an acre of land to the city in 1926; three years later the Municipal Assembly [now the New York City Council] made the association custodian of the building.
From Wikipedia:
Archaeological evidence, including shell middens and digs conducted by The American Museum of Natural History in 1895, have shown that the Raritan band of the Lenape camped in the area and used the location as a burial ground. Known as Burial Ridge, it is the largest pre-European site in New York City.
Legend holds that sovereignty of Staten Island was determined by Capt. Billopp's skill in circling it in one day, earning it for New York rather than to New Jersey. This has since been disproven and is in fact a myth.
Conference House. Photograph courtesy urbanarchive.org.
Across the street from Conference House Park is this house that caught my eye.
Near Conference House there is a viewing platform affording a view of Raritan Bay, South Amboy, the mouth of the Raritan River, and Perth Amboy. On the opposite side of Raritan Bay are New Jersey’s Atlantic Highlands.
A good footpath winds through the woods of Conference House Park, past white plastic tubes protecting saplings, and over a small bridge where people were feeding ducks and geese.
Upon leaving the park we walked the length of Main Street, which starts out as single-family residential, up a decent but not challenging hill, going through Tottenville’s old retail heart, past the post office and police station, and ending at the train station.
Apartment house on Main Street in central Tottenville that looks as though it would be more at home in the Bronx, Brooklyn, or Queens.
Old sign at a former appliance store, Main Street, Tottenville.
123d Precinct (1924), NYPD, Main Street, Tottenville. Photograph courtesy urbanarchive.org. From the AIA Guide to New York City, Fifth Edition (2010): “Italian Renaissance Revival, somewhat out of context with the small-scale village it inhabits, but elegantly conceived.”
This was a fine walk and Tottenville is well worth a return visit; the Conference House awaits and there are other architectural gems to explore. In terms of distance and character, Tottenville is as far from the crowded, bustling city as one can get while remaining in the city limits. The walk was accessible, but noting the uphill on Bentley Street and an uphill on Main Street where the grade exceeds 3 percent, and the crushed gravel surface of most of the path through Conference House Park. Sidewalks aren’t always continuous but there isn’t much motorized traffic; still, look sharp as you go along.