THIS photo comes from a recent jaunt down Forest Avenue in Staten Island, a lengthy route that runs from Victory Boulevard to the Goethals Bridge. I only got halfway, only as far as Richmond Avenue, which is a good five miles. Perhaps someday soon I’ll do the other half and maybe add a walk all the way over the new Goethals, which (as of 2021) was opened just a couple of years ago.
A number of streets as well as drugstore awnings bear the name of Randall. They don’t honor Tony Randall, who played hundreds of roles over decades in showbiz but is perhaps remembered best for playing fussy photographer Felix Unger on TV’s “The Odd Couple,” but a fellow named Robert Richard Randall. This drugstore can be found on the corner of Forest and Walbrooke Avenues in New Brighton, south of Randall Manor, where you can find Sailors’ Snug Harbor.
Sailors’ Snug Harbor, an 83-acre National Historic Landmarked District facing Richmond Terrace between Tysen Street and Snug Harbor Road, was founded in the Washington Square area of Manhattan by Robert Richard Randall when he specified that his fortune be left to the care of retired seamen without other means of support. Randall was the bachelor son of a privateer and knew well the toll a life at sea can take on the body and psyche. After Randall’s death in 1801, over twenty years was spent in adjudicating claims to Randall’s fortune, and by 1821, lower Manhattan had grown considerably and land for the sort of retreat Randall had had in mind was unavailable. Snug Harbor trustees purchased Isaac Housman’s farm in then-rural Richmond County in the 1830s. Architect Minard Lefever was commissioned to build Snug Harbor’s magnificent Greek Revival edifices, only some of which remain today. At its peak Snug Harbor was home to over 1000 seamen; by 1976 operations had relocated to North Carolina. The buildings were allowed to deteriorate for awhile, and some were demolished, but seven have been landmarked and Snug Harbor is in the process of becoming a premier cultural center in NYC. The institute includes Staten Island Botanical Garden and Children’s Museum, which all occupy the same space. Consult snug-harbor.org for hours.
Walking through Snug Harbor is a strange yet calming experience; a trip through an old folks home, where all the old folks were Popeye. I haven’t been back for several years; the time may be ripe.
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12/9/21
7 comments
Boro 5 comes alive!
At one time there was a need for Sailors Snug Harbor but generally after WW2 American merchant seamen
became the best paid in the world(thanks in part to govt. subsidies of the merchant marine)so after awhile
there wasnt really a need for a obligation on the part of the government to take care of retired seamen.So
you had this huge government reservation set aside to take care of perhaps 40 dudes(some of whom werent
exactly destitute and decrepit) and when President Carter found out about this insult to the taxpayer he shut
the place down so fast it made your head spin.
Curious how you came about your conclusions. Sailors’ Snug Harbor did not shut down, they moved to North Carolina. And since the federal government had absolutely nothing to do with running the place (it was always a private institution run by a board of trustees), not sure what President Carter would have to do with the relocation.
If you walk the rest of Forest Avenue and over the Goethals you’ll get a view of the Arthur Kill railroad bridge and the Howland Hook ship terminal. Depending on angles you might also get to see some of the only double-stack freight cars that operate in the city. And for an extra treat, just before you get to the Goethals you’ll walk right past the city’s one and only trailer camp!
If you don’t want to retrace your route after crossing the bridge it’s about a 2-mile walk to NJTransit Elizabeth station.
It was a Federal reservation and one day the remaining retirees were moved to a house in Elizabeth City,North Carolina.
It was in Newsweek magazine.Why would so few people need a property the size of a good sized Army base to retire in?
To gambol and leap about in?
It was never a federal reservation, and the decision to close it was made in 1974 and was done so by 1976, a full year before President Carter took office. Not sure what “reservation” you’re referring to, but it can’t be Sailors’ Snug Harbor.
Alright alright already! I was thinking of the Marine Hospital up there in staten island run by the Public Health,
fa cryin out loud.When Daddy Reagan found out he “flipped his lid” and “blew his top” and sent them guys
a packin’.
Now wheres my pack of Chesterfields?Who got my Chesterfields?