Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve, Charleston Staten Island
Posted by Anthony Licciardello on
If you love nature, you're certain to love Staten Island, as it is filled with many parks and nature preserves. On the southwestern shore of Staten Island, in the neighborhood of Charleston, you will find the 260-acre Clay Pit Ponds 
State Park Preserve. This park was the first and only state park preserve to be established in New York City, having been set up in 1976. In 1980, Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve opened to the public. It is under the jurisdiction of the State of New York Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation.
Prior to its use as a park, the land taken up by Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve was mined for clay, hence the park's name.Beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, brick manufacturer Balthasar…
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Staten Island's past. Nonetheless, the two were included in what soon became Alice Austen Park, with the addresses of the homes being 2 Hylan Boulevard and 30 Hylan Boulevard.
In the middle of the twentieth century, a school building was constructed in the neighborhood of West Brighton. On April 28, 1960, the school was named for Anning Smith Prall. Born on Staten Island, Prall served as president of the New York City Board of Education for three terms in 1919, 1920, and 1921. Anning Smith Prall also served as a member of the House of Representatives and president of the Federal Communications Commission in later years. Intermediate School 27 was named for him twenty-three years after his death.
In 1931, a school was constructed in the neighborhood of Grasmere at the corner of Targee Street and Naples Street. In 1953 and 1955, the City of New York acquired two plots of land to the east of the school, with Stanwich Street being their eastern boundary. Since the school first opened, these two parcels of land had been used as a play area for local residents, who named it as Concord Playground. Once the two parcels were acquired by the city, a playground was constructed. It opened in 1965 under the jurisdiction of both the New York City Board of Education and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. At the time of its opening, it became known as P.S. 48 Playground, for the adjacent school.
known as the Neck Creek Marsh, named after the creek that runs through it.
After the First World War, many World War One memorials began to be placed all over New York City to commemorate those who fought in the war. In the early 1920s, residents of the southern portion of Staten Island-then known as the Fifth Ward-raised money to have a sculpture built for their community. George Thomas Brewster, a resident of Tottenville, sculpted an $8,500 statue based on the Louvre's Winged Victory of Samothrace.
school was initially built, a schoolyard and tot lot were constructed next to the building, above Arnold Street and to the east of Clyde Place. Not long after the construction of the schoolyard and tot lot, a fire destroyed the school building and it was replaced by Public School 31, which was constructed further northeast in the neighborhood. Although the school was no longer in use, maintenance of the tot lot was taken up by the current Cottages Hill Tenant Association, a community group.
The First World War, as you may know, drafted many Americans into the war. One of these men was Frederick Staats, a Staten Island resident who worked for Staten Island Rapid Transit. After having entered the war, Staats was killed in 1918, at the age of twenty-three. Ten years later, the New York City Board of Aldermen, now the New York City Council, decided to name a parcel of land after him. It was named Frederick Staats Circle, due to the shape of the land.
site. Shortly after the school was moved, in 1947, the City of New York decided that they wanted to create a playground for Public School 14. By 1951, P.S. 14 Playground opened under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and the New York City Board of Education.