WHERE: The Staten Island Greenbelt, mostly
START: New Dorp station, Staten Island Railway
FINISH: Joe & Pat’s Restaurant, Victory Boulevard at Manor Road, then S62 bus to St. George Ferry Terminal
DISTANCE: 5.19 miles (8.31 kilometers)
Maps by Google Maps and Carl Bombara. Photographs by Carl Bombara except where noted.
A few years ago my friends Rob and Kristin told me about an excellent pizza restaurant on Staten Island called Joe & Pat’s. I had not been on Staten Island in about 10 years and wanted to do a walk there, I wanted to go to Joe & Pat’s, and my good friend Carl lives on Staten Island, so it was time to plan a walk. Working with Google Maps, I mapped what looked like a good hill-climbing walk. Carl met me at the New Dorp train station and off we went.
The Staten Island Railway is an oddity. Once upon a time, fares were collected aboard the train; now, fares are collected only at the St. George Ferry Terminal and Tompkinsville station, On the rest of the line, one can travel between stations at no charge. The railway dates from the 1860s and was once owned by the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad. In 1925 the B&O electrified the line and placed subway-type cars in service. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority acquired the line around 1971, and in 1973-74 delivered new subway cars for the line that are still in service today. As a sidebar, from 2002-2004 I was the project manager for the introduction of a modern signal system on the line.
New Dorp’s commercial strip, New Dorp Lane, is centered on the train station and has many shops and restaurants. The station is one of 10 subway and Staten Island Railway stations that are in the process of being made accessible, though work has yet to start at New Dorp.
Starting out, the walk was uneventful, along streets. When we got to High Rock Park we found an unmarked trail and ended up walking the first of several near-circles. No colored blazes on the trees or anything else, even though the Google Maps called out the “Yellow Trail” for the entire distance in the park. Thankfully, Carl took on the role of navigator. We walked along several trails, some of then marked, but the markings were rarely yellow. The trails had little wooden bridges here and there fording streams. Some of the trail walking was very steep and it was mostly unpaved. I had to tread carefully and with help lest I trip and fall because of a rock or a tree root. Eventually we found an outlet to Manor Road, where we would have ended up on the mapped route, and walked for some distance where there was no sidewalk and only a narrow shoulder. And sleet started falling while we were out there. Passing motorists gave us wide berth but I do not recommend walking on that road through the Greenbelt.
The route as mapped versus the route as walked.
This proved to be my most challenging walk by far, on stair streets or not, since the stroke, as well as the longest. The challenge came from the trails not being well-marked and for their being rugged, eroded in many places, and not paved. Tree roots and wet leaves were constant tripping hazards. I am most grateful to Carl for being there, navigating, and making sure I didn’t trip or fall.
As mapped we would have been on Todt Hill, the second-highest elevation on the Atlantic coast after Cadillac Mountain in Maine. We ended up doing a good climb anyway.
If anyone from the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation is reading this, I know your budgets have been cut to the bone over many years, but come on. Somebody please re-mark the trails in the Greenbelt. I’m not kidding. As we approached Manor Road we saw a tree on the left with a blue blaze, then happened to turn around and saw the same tree with a yellow blaze on the opposite side. Grade the trails. Put decent directional maps along the way. And bring someone from Google Maps with you.
All this said, the Staten Island Greenbelt is truly a wonderful place, tranquil and stress-relieving, a far remove from the city. It is astounding to think that the city’s late master planner, Robert Moses (1888-1981), planned a superhighway called the Richmond Parkway to be built through here, connecting the Staten Island Expressway (and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge) with the Outerbridge Crossing at the southwestern tip of the island. A half-finished interchange to what would have been the Richmond Parkway stood on the Staten Island Expressway for decades until it was demolished during the expressway’s widening.
Carl and me, a pond near the park entrance (photo MC), trail showing a bridge and blue and yellow blazes marking the trail, Manor Road through the park.
We continued to our destination for an excellent cheese pizza. Well-done, thin crust, fresh ingredients. It was a fine reward and I will be back, no question about it. At the end, as we got to Victory Boulevard (renamed from Richmond Turnpike during World War I), Carl remarked that the name was a fitting conclusion to a tough walk. Indeed it was. Thanks, brother, for keeping me going on this walk, which gave me a huge sense of accomplishment.