If you're interested in salt marshes, Staten Island's West Shore is the place to go. Most of the West Shore has been undeveloped, leaving much marshland. In the neighborhoods of Travis and Chelsea, you can find what was once known as the Neck Creek Marsh, named after the creek that runs through it.
During the twentieth century, the name of the site was changed to Meredith Park, after a property owner in Chelsea, William T. Meredith. In 1998, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation Commission Henry J. Stern changed the name of the park yet again, to Meredith Woods. Though Commissioner Stern is well-known for his appropriate renaming of parks, Meredith Woods is actually made up mostly of marshland.
Meredith Woods is made up of three separate parcels of land near the Meredith Avenue overpass above the West Shore Expressway. The largest parcel, which is made up of roughly thirty-two acres of land, is above Meredith Avenue and to the east of the West Shore Expressway. A smaller parcel, made up of about two acres, sits below Meredith Avenue and to the east of the West Shore Expressway, just below the larger section. A larger section, made up of about thirteen acres, sits below Meredith Avenue and to the west of the West Shore Expressway. This last section is actually a part of the Neck Creek Preserve, one of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation's Forever Wild Nature Preserves. A wide variety of flora and fauna make their homes in the Meredith Woods.
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