Ward's Point Archeological Site | |
Location | Tottenville, Staten Island, New York |
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NRHP reference No. | 93000609 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | April 19, 1993 [1] |
Designated NHL | April 19, 1993 [2] |
Ward's Point Conservation Area | |
Area | 33.5 acres (13.6 ha) |
---|---|
NRHP reference No. | 82003402 [3] |
Added to NRHP | September 29, 1982 |
Ward's Point is the southernmost point in the U.S. state of New York and lies within Tottenville, Staten Island, New York City. It is located at the mouth of Arthur Kill, across from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, at the head of Raritan Bay. The site is part of modern-day Conference House Park. [4]
Ward's Point Conservation Area is a historic archaeological site and national historic district. The district encompasses nine contributing sites. It includes the property on which the Conference House sits. The Conference House was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1966. The conservation area was specifically identified for preservation based on "the information it may provide on prehistoric and historic Indian subsistence and settlement on Staten Island." A number of prehistoric remains have been located on the site. [5] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. [3]
Near Ward's Point is the Ward's Point Archeological Site, an archaeological site within Conference House Park. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993. The site has been known since 1858, when human remains were first unearthed in the area. It is one of the largest and best preserved sites for studying Native American people in the New York area. [2]
It overlaps with the Aakawaxung Munahanung (Island Protected from the Wind) Archaeological Site in Conference House Park, which was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2021. [6] [7]
Burial Ridge is a Native American archaeological site and burial ground located at Ward's Point.
The first documented evidence of Paleo-Indians using the site is from the end of the Early Archaic Period 8,000 years ago. [8] The burial ground—used by the Lenape dating from the Woodland period until relinquishing Staten Island to the Dutch—is the largest pre-European burial ground in New York City and today remains unmarked and lies within Conference House Park.
Evidence of prior Native American habitation is still visible along the beach at the bluff's lowest elevations, where erosion exposes the remains of large shell middens dominated by shells of the Eastern oyster. [9]
Bodies were reported unearthed at Burial Ridge during various periods in the 19th century beginning in 1858. After conducting independent research, which included unearthing bodies interred at the site, ethnologist and archaeologist George H. Pepper was contracted in 1895 to conduct paid archaeological research at Burial Ridge by the American Museum of Natural History.
Many of the skeletons unearthed were buried in flexed positions, with the knees drawn up to the chest; fewer were found in a laid-out position. Most of the graves were fairly shallow, ranging from 1–3 feet (0.30–0.91 m) in depth below grade. Many of the graves contained assorted grave goods, among them arrowheads and various stone implements such as ax heads and hammerstones.
One of the burials contained the skeletons of three males, with the bones pierced by 23 arrowheads made of bone, antler, argillite and flint. [10]
Close to the three males, the body of a child was unearthed with a variety of grave goods, including pendants made of yellow jasper and various utensils. The body also showed evidence of copper salts about the lower portion of the skull, mandible and sternum, which indicated that copper ornaments were buried with the body. An additional skeleton unearthed in a prone position was completely charred above the knees, suggesting he may have been burned alive while tied to a stake. [11]
Staten Island is the southernmost borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southern tip of the U.S. state of New York. The borough is separated from the adjacent state of New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull and from the rest of New York by New York Bay. With a population of 495,747 in the 2020 Census, Staten Island is the least populated New York City borough but the third largest in land area at 58.5 sq mi (152 km2); it is also the least densely populated and most suburban borough in the city.
Tottenville is a neighborhood on the South Shore of Staten Island, New York City. It is the southernmost neighborhood and settlement in both New York City and New York State, as well as the westernmost neighborhood in New York City. Tottenville is bounded on three sides by water: the south side abuts the New York Bight while the west and north sides are bordered by the Arthur Kill. Nassau Place, Bethel Avenue and Page Avenue form the neighborhood's eastern border.
Prince's Bay is the name of a neighborhood located on the South Shore of New York City's borough of Staten Island. Prince's Bay is bordered to the north by Huguenot, to the south by the Raritan Bay, and to the west by Pleasant Plains. The neighborhood is represented in the New York State Senate by Andrew Lanza, in the New York State Assembly by Michael Reilly, and in the New York City Council by Joe Borelli.
Conference House is a stone house in the Tottenville neighborhood of Staten Island in New York City. Built by Captain Christopher Billopp some time before 1680, it is located in Conference House Park near Ward's Point, the southernmost tip of New York state, which became known as "Billop's Point" in the 18th century.
Grymes Hill is a 374 feet (114 m) tall hill formed of serpentine rock on Staten Island, New York. It is the second highest natural point on the island and in the five boroughs of New York City. The neighborhood of the same name encompasses an area of 0.894 square miles (2.32 km2) and has a population of 8,263 people. The hill also includes parts of the Silver Lake neighborhood. The area includes part of ZIP Codes 10301 and 10304.
African Burial Ground National Monument is a monument at Duane Street and African Burial Ground Way in the Civic Center section of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Its main building is the Ted Weiss Federal Building at 290 Broadway. The site contains the remains of more than 419 Africans buried during the late 17th and 18th centuries in a portion of what was the largest colonial-era cemetery for people of African descent, some free, most enslaved. Historians estimate there may have been as many as 10,000–20,000 burials in what was called the Negroes Burial Ground in the 18th century. The five to six acre site's excavation and study was called "the most important historic urban archaeological project in the United States." The Burial Ground site is New York's earliest known African-American cemetery; studies show an estimated 15,000 African American people were buried here.
The Grave Creek Mound in the Ohio River Valley in West Virginia is one of the largest conical-type burial mounds in the United States, now standing 62 feet (19 m) high and 240 feet (73 m) in diameter. The builders of the site, members of the Adena culture, moved more than 60,000 tons of dirt to create it about 250–150 BC.
Historic Jamestown is the cultural heritage site that was the location of the 1607 James Fort and the later 17th-century town of Jamestown in America. It is located on Jamestown Island, on the James River at Jamestown, Virginia and operated as a partnership between Preservation Virginia and the U.S. National Park Service as part of Colonial National Historical Park.
Copper Culture State Park is a 42-acre (17 ha) Wisconsin state park in Oconto, northeastern Wisconsin. The park has natural areas, farmlands, archaeological sites, and a Native American museum.
George Hubbard Pepper was an American ethnologist and archaeologist. He worked on projects in New York, the Southwest and, most notably, the Nacoochee Mound in northeastern Georgia. His work with Frederick W. Hodge was sponsored by the Heye Foundation, Museum of the American Indian, and the Bureau of American Ethnology
The Turpin site (33Ha19) is an archaeological site in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. Located near Newtown in Hamilton County, the site includes the remains of a village of the Fort Ancient culture and of multiple burial mounds. Numerous bodies have been found in and around the mounds as a result of thorough site investigations. The archaeological value of the site has resulted in its use in the study of similar locations and in its designation as a historic site.
The Alice Austen House, also known as Clear Comfort, is located at 2 Hylan Boulevard in the Rosebank section of Staten Island, New York City, New York. It was home of Alice Austen, a photographer, for most of her lifetime, and is now a museum and a member of the Historic House Trust. The house is administered by the "Friends of Alice Austen", a volunteer group.
Conference House Park is a park in Tottenville, Staten Island, New York City. The park is located along the Arthur Kill coast where the kill opens into Raritan Bay. It contains clay bluffs, part of the terminal moraine, formed when the Wisconsin Glacier receded 10,000 years ago. Ward's Point, the southernmost point in New York state, is in the park.
The Church of St. Andrew is a historic Episcopal church located at Arthur Kill and Old Mill Roads on the north side of Richmondtown in Staten Island, New York.
Newburgh Colored Burial Ground is a historic cemetery and national historic district located at Newburgh in Orange County, New York.
Staten Island Borough Hall is the primary municipal building for the borough of Staten Island in New York City. It is located at 10 Richmond Terrace, next to the Richmond County Courthouse and opposite the St. George Terminal of the Staten Island Ferry. Borough Hall houses the Borough President's office, offices of the Departments of Buildings and Transportation, and other civic offices.
The Perth Amboy Ferry Slip, located on the Arthur Kill in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, was once a vital ferry slip for boats in New York Harbor. It was added to the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The ferry slip was restored in 1998 to its 1904 appearance. A replica of the ticket office has been constructed and is used as a small museum.
The Orators Mound is a Native American mound in the western part of the U.S. state of Ohio. Although its cultural affiliation is disputed, it is an important archaeological site.
The Vanderbilt Family Cemetery and Mausoleum is a private burial site within the Moravian Cemetery in the New Dorp neighborhood of Staten Island, New York City. It was designed by Richard Morris Hunt and Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 19th century, when the Vanderbilt family was the wealthiest in America.