Peach War

The Development of Staten Island

February 16, 2025 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

Relative to the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, Staten Island has been both water-bound and isolated. Historically, the island’s western border, the Arthur Kill channel, and its northwestern border, the Kill Van Kull, played vital roles connecting New York with New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Long Island Sound.

Staten Island rests between New York Bay and New Jersey’s northwestern shoreline, the Arthur Kill channel separating the Island from the latter. The Island’s geographical center is situated 11 miles southwest of New York City. [Read more…] about The Development of Staten Island

Good Fences: New Amsterdam’s Wall To Keep Out The English

March 7, 2024 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

The Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam (what is now Lower Manhattan) implemented its city charter on February 2, 1653 (Candlemas Day), the traditional swearing-in day of Dutch city officials.

On this day the Records of New Amsterdam begin, and on February 10th, the Burgomasters and Schepens, roughly equivalent to a Mayor and City Council, held their first formal meeting. [Read more…] about Good Fences: New Amsterdam’s Wall To Keep Out The English

Nieuw Dorp, Now & Then: Dutch History in Ulster County

February 24, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Traveling from Washington D.C. to Milwaukee, Dutch journalist Bas Blokker makes a stop-over in Hurley, Ulster County, NY, and discovers its Dutch history. His curiosity is piqued and he dives into the past to find the nineteenth-century views of the Dutch colonizers very different from modern ones.

During the last five years, I always crossed the Susquehanna River just north of Baltimore when driving from my house in Washington DC to New York. Once on the bridge the same scene unfolded again and again in my mind’s eye: a sailing ship changing course from the Chesapeake Bay to enter the river’s mouth and drop anchor at what is now Havre de Grace or Garret Island. [Read more…] about Nieuw Dorp, Now & Then: Dutch History in Ulster County

Peach War

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