Lemon Creek Park
Living with the Wild World on Staten Island
Welcome to Lemon Creek Park! We will explore both the beach nearby and Lemon Creek itself Depending on the time of year, several different unique species make this place their home. There are also several human made structures and histories that we will examine. It’s all part of what makes Lemon Creek so special.
Lemon Creek Park (the red star) and its surrounding communities
Exploring Lemon Creek
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Lemon Creek Park is located where its namesake creek ends and meets Prince's Bay. But the Creek begins just over 2.5 miles away. It starts small, in the backyards of late-20th Century homes built in the Rossville neighborhood to the north of the Bay.
It is there that water bubbles up from an underground body of water called an aquifer to form the first narrow rivulet, or small stream, which collects rainfall from along its banks as it passes through these newer neighborhoods. It flows towards the west then until Porzio’s Pond, when it starts its voyage southward. It makes its way, mostly unnoticed, under bridges with streets above.
The source of Lemon Creek, in a residential neighborhood. Image Credit: Jonathan Turer
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Then, just after Lemon Creek passes under the Staten Island Railway tracks, it begins to wind down toward the Bay and becomes a tidal wetland. It is here that the tides push the freshwater back to form a wide channel flanked by plants that prefer to grow with their roots underwater. This type of ecosystem is nutrient-rich because of all the biological matter that is trapped in the root systems of these plants. Many organisms in the water feed on this matter and, in turn, help supply nutrients for creatures further up the food chain.
Lemon Creek winds its way through tall wetland plants. Image Credit: Jonathan Turer
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As we continue, we reach the end of the Creek where it empties into Prince's Bay, which becomes a part of Raritan Bay, an ecosystem defined by the mix of fresh and saltwater. This mixture is called brackish water.
Lemon Creek widens as it approaches Raritan Bay. Image Credit: Jonathan Turer
Land and Geology
Locate the star on the map.
We're near the southern tip of Staten Island. The main body of water we see is the Raritan Bay.
Looking south from Lemon Creek Park across the Raritan Bay are the Atlantic Highlands in the state of New Jersey...
The hills you see across the Bay are in New Jersey and are ancient, worn-down mountains. They are surrounded by areas of prehistoric sea- and riverbeds that are now a type of rock called sandstone. In this area, much of that ‘sand’ was more like a rich, reddish-brown mud.
The hills of New Jersey are in the distance. Image Credit: Jonathan Turer
This mud dates back to the Early Jurassic period (about 175 to 200 million years ago) when Stegosaurs, Pterosaurs and Plesiosaurs were alive!
Today, it’s commonly known as "Brownstone". When it washes up on the beach it looks like this:
Red stones stand out in the sand. Image Credit: Jonathan Turer
In the mid- and late-1800s, this Brownstone was cut into large, smooth slabs to cover over the bricks on many new buildings across Manhattan and Brooklyn. These new buildings can be found in neighborhoods now known as Harlem, Park Slope, Fort Greene, Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights, and many others.
Brownstone buildings on a New York City block. Image Credit: Jonathan Turer
Thriving Life
Raritan Bay may not seem that ‘wild’ since it is surrounded by homes and other buildings. However, many interesting creatures can be found swimming in that water if you take a boat to the deeper areas of the bay.
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Loggerhead Sea Turtle
You might see a Loggerhead sea turtle hunting for a fish to eat. An adult Loggerhead turtle’s shell is, on average, about three feet long!
A Loggerhead turtle makes its way toward the ocean. Image Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via Flickr
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Harbor and Gray Seals
If you take a boat ride in the winter, you can often see Harbor seals and Gray seals swimming through the water in the middle of the Bay. You might even see one resting on the rocks of Hoffman or Swinburne Island at the northern end of the Bay. Sometimes, they can even be spotted warming themselves on nearby beaches before they begin their northward migration in the late spring.
A Harbor seal relaxes on a rock. Image Credit: Stalin Espinal and David Chuchuca, NYCH2O
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Humpback Whale and Bottlenose Porpoise
And if you go to the edge of the Bay and enter the Atlantic Ocean, you might actually see a Humpback whale or Bottlenose porpoise. They’re both quite common!
The reason so much marine life likes Raritan Bay as a home is because the water has been getting cleaner and cleaner. That’s one reason there’s so much food, like fish, available. The other reason is that regulations have been created (by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission) that limit the number of fish humans can catch, which means more food for the marine animals.
A Humpback whale leaps from the water. Image Credit: National Marine Sanctuaries via Flickr
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Horseshoe Crab
If you stand on the sandy shore here at Lemon Creek you may see some curious creatures crawling just beneath the shallow water. Every spring, hundreds of Horseshoe Crabs come to this beach to lay eggs.
Horseshoe Crabs look almost identical to their relatives from hundreds of millions of years ago which leads many people to call them "living fossils". They spend most of their lives on the bottom of the Bay looking for food: small snails, worms, algae (like seaweed) and bits of dead fish that have sunk down to the mud. They don’t hunt, but eat what they find and what predators have left behind, which makes them scavengers. Can you think of any other animals that are scavengers?
The Horseshoe crab can be found on local beaches.
The path leading from the beach at Lemon Creek Park to the parking area. Image Credit: Jonathan Turer
If we turn from the beach and walk through the trees back to the field that was built by the NYC Parks Department, we see, in the distance a collection of various birdhouses. They have been set up for a very interesting kind of bird!
Next, let's learn about how humans and nature have worked together here at Lemon Creek.
Humans and Nature
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Purple Martins
Take a look at the birdhouses on the right. The birds that live here are called Purple Martins. They love to fly through the air all day and eat insects such as flies and wasps. Why is that helpful to humans?
Hundreds of years ago, before Europeans began visiting this part of the world, the Lenape tribes used this part of Staten Island as a fishing and gathering area during the spring and summer. Purple Martins were welcome guests in these camps. The Lenape would fish in the waters, then hang their catch in the sun to dry the fish for storage. The birds would swoop down and eat the flies that were attracted to the drying fish.
Because there weren’t always hollow trees nearby, the Lenape needed to do something to entice Purple Martins to live near their camps. To do that, the Lenape would hollow out a winter squash (one of the ‘Three Sisters’ crops they harvested - along with corn and beans) and hang it off of a long stick that was stuck into the ground. This would hopefully attract a Purple Martin which could build a nest inside. When fall came the Purple Martin would migrate to Brazil (or countries nearby in South America) but would return in the spring and look for the gourd again. Today, almost every Purple Martin in the Northeast United States prefers to nest in a birdhouse near humans.
Purple Martins at their nests. Image Credit: Jonathan Turer
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The World is an Oyster
The Lenape also spent time harvesting oysters to eat from the shallow rocky parts of the water near this beach. It is thought to be one of the main reasons they liked this part of Staten Island in particular. When Europeans arrived they were excited to find these oyster beds. Raw and cooked oysters are a very desirable kind of food, as they are to this day.
Oystermen (it was usually men who went out to harvest oysters) concentrated their activities in several specific areas along the East Coast. Staten Island’s south coast, New York Harbor and Long Island Sound were very popular, along with the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
A collection of oyster shells. Image Credit: Jonathan Turer
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Sandy Ground
In 1833, several ‘free Black’ oystermen decided to leave the Chesapeake Bay oyster beds in Maryland and move north to Staten Island where they would form a settlement known as Sandy Ground, just a few miles away from this beach. In Maryland, these African-American men were ‘free’ (not slaves) but since it was legal to own slaves in Maryland at that time, these men had serious restrictions on their ‘freedom’. For example, they could not own land or a boat to do their work. They were not allowed to ‘captain’ a boat unless a white man was present. Also, they could not vote.
But in New York, they could buy land (since 1809), buy oyster beds, as well as buy and captain their own boats. In New York they could vote - but only if they owned a lot of land, which most of them did not when they arrived. In fact, their home was called Sandy Ground because the soil was so full of sand - and bad for farming. In other words, it was not very desirable and was the best most of the ‘free Blacks’ could afford.
A community church in the neighborhood known as Sandy Ground. Image Credit: Peter Greenberg via Wikimedia Commons
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Prince's Bay
Many of the oystermen were able to rent or buy oyster beds in Prince’s Bay. The bay, at that time shallow, rocky and with the perfect mix of salt and fresh water would become the most desirable source of oysters in all of Staten Island. Oysters harvested here would be eaten all across Manhattan in the finest restaurants. They would also be brined (soaked in salt water to preserve them) and barrelled to be shipped across the world. In fact, some people say that the name Prince’s Bay comes from the story that an English Prince claimed those oysters were his favorite.
Another name for the bay was Princess Bay as well as Skunk’s Misery, which would certainly not be good for oyster sales! - NYC Parks Department
Eventually, this community of oystermen became more prosperous and some decided to use their profits to branch out into blacksmithing, to make the tools needed for oyster harvesting. Other family members made baskets to pack the oysters for delivery to markets and others grew strawberries - which actually thrive in sandy soil. Today Sandy Ground is considered the oldest continuously-inhabited ‘free Black’ community in the nation. There are still a handful of families living in the neighborhood who can trace their history back to older generations of oystermen.
A view of Prince's Bay. Image Credit: Jonathan Turer
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Oysters Today
There are no edible oysters being harvested in any of New York City’s waters today. At first, the oysters were being collected too quickly and could not reproduce fast enough. Oystermen all across the region had trouble deciding on rules about how much to harvest. Then, the remaining oysters began to suffer from the increasing pollution in the water. This meant that if they were harvested they could make anyone who ate them sick. An oyster from badly polluted waters could kill a person if they ate it raw.
Oysters are still served in New York restaurants today, but now come from nearby Long Island Sound or other states, like Massachusetts or Maine.
Shellfish are harvested on Long Island. Image Credit: U.S. Food and Drug Administration via Flickr
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Seguine Mansion
The Seguine family also settled in this area and bought this land all the way back in the 1780s, nearly half a century before Sandy Ground was established. If you look across Lemon Creek, past the fishing boats and up the hill, you can see one of their houses. It dates back to 1838 and has fancy white columns which try to imitate an ancient Greek or Roman temple. Do you think the Seguine family had a lot of money?
The Seguine mansion is truly an example of an elegant home. Image Credit: Dmadeo via Wikimedia Commons
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The Seguines made lots of money living with the land. They harvested oysters from Prince’s Bay and used the marshes along Lemon Creek for profit. In many saltmarshes, you can find a kind of grass called Saltmeadow Cordgrass. Spartina patens is its scientific name.
Saltmeadow Cordgrass grows in large, thick tufts along the marshes at the edge of the oceans. It helps slow flooding, filters pollution and provides a home to creatures like ribbed mussels, fiddler crabs and many birds. But back then most people thought of it in a different way. They called it Salt Hay and they fed it to their cows and horses. Because it grew so easily it was a good opportunity for the Seguines to make a profit. Between the oysters and the salt hay, the Seguines used this land to make enough money to build several homes as well as invest in other businesses.
Saltmeadow Cordgrass looks quite soft from a distance. Image Credit: Jonathan Turer
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