Greenbelt Journal
High Rock Park: The Elliot Willensky years
By A. MAE SEELEY A garden for the blind was just one of the many innovative outreach programs launched at High Rock Park during the 1970’s when the famed architect, author and city chronicler Elliot Willensky served as education director. A city boy himself, Elliot understood that a visit to High Rock’s untamed and unpaved…
Read MoreStaten Island led the way to the first Earth Day. Come celebrate with us!
By MICHAEL W. DOMINOWSKI The Greenbelt Conservancy As the hills and meadows and forests of Staten Island emerge from winter and dress in their finest spring green colors, it’s time for Earth Day! As part of our series of “Year of the Greenbelt” events, the Greenbelt Conservancy invites you to join with NYC Parks…
Read MoreProtecting the Greenbelt is a job that’s never completed
By ELLEN O’FLAHERTY PRATT For me it all began on December 26, 1979 when the Staten Island Advance headline read “Mayor Koch to sell SeaView.” The semi-abandoned hospital between Staten Island’s Brielle Avenue and Manor Road was built in the early 20th century as a tuberculosis sanatorium. By the 1950s it had fallen into disuse…
Read MoreA golf course is saved, and with it a historic green space
By KENNETH SACCARO The Richmond Country Club (RCCC) 124-acre golf course sits in the heart of the Greenbelt. It will forever be a green oasis thanks to a deal that was brokered in 1989 between Club members and New York State. The state, using funds from the 1986 Environmental Quality Bond Act, purchased the property…
Read MoreWhen High Rock Park was home
By DOROTHY REILLY In 1912, what we now know as High Rock Park, was comprised of several privately owned parcels of land. The Tonking family purchased 12 acres to establish a poultry business they called “Mayroyd Farm.” Other parts of Staten Island’s central highlands were owned by the Vanderbilt, Walker and Ebbit families. In 1921,…
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