Black History is Oyster History on Staten Island

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Oyster workers in maryland, 1894, MAAP Columbia University, Courtesy Alice Austen Collection, Staten Island Historical Society

 
 

A Journey through Sandy Ground’s
Living Landmarks

When most of us open our textbooks, we learn a version of American history filtered through white narratives. This is particularly true for New York City’s early history. White narratives and colonization are inseparable from our early written accounts, shaping the stories we’ve shared and the ones we’ve left out centuries later–like how expansive and abundant oyster reefs once characterized New York City’s shorelines and dining room tables, or how that extant industry helped build a haven for free Black landowners and a crucial stop on the Underground Railroad.

Where you’ll find the legacy of New York City’s booming oyster industry and the Black oystermen who built it, is in the stories of residents and landmark structures of Sandy Ground on Staten Island–the nation’s oldest continuously settled free black community–five generations later.

 

Welcome to Sandy Ground–America’s Oldest Continuously Settled Free Black Community

Robert McKinney, Jeffrey Moody, Catherine McKinney, Denise Pedro and Warren Landin, from left, Rossville, STATEN ISLAND, 1967, JOhn Padula, Staten Island Advance

 
“When you come here and put your feet on this dirt, that’s the dirt that people lived on.”
— Julie Moody Lewis, Sandy Ground Historical Society

Located in Rossville, Staten Island, Sandy Ground is one of the oldest surviving communities in the United States founded by free African Americans before the Civil War. Its legacy traces back to New York’s first black landowners, Captain Jackson and Mr. Holmes, and their early purchases of farmland on Staten Island. Soon, more free black landowners—among them Moses and Silas Harris—began to settle on other parts of the island, leading to the birth of Harrisville (a.k.a Africa, Little Africa, or as we know it today, Sandy Ground), near Prince’s Bay.

The growing community of Harrisville and its proximity to the abundant oyster reefs off Prince’s Bay, became attractive to Black oystermen working in the Chesapeake and trading in New York Harbor. Forming relationships with the current residents of Sandy Ground, these skilled oystermen from Maryland quickly became the oystermen of New York Harbor, settling in the community around 1850 and bolstering its future of prosperity and strength of protection for African Americans escaping enslavement on the Underground Railroad. Sandy Ground today is recognized as an Official Louis Napoleon Site on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Trail.

“I have stories from my great grandfather and older people we interviewed back in the 80s, talking about the oystermen; who they were, where they worked, what time they would get up in the morning, how they'd walk down to the boats. Even when the waters were polluted, we learned how the community was notified and what they felt about it. They thought it was political! To hear that from someone who lived that as a little boy is amazing.” says Julie Moody Lewis. “[This work] is rewarding when you hear people are interested. They need to know about the environmental history of the city and the independent businessmen who knew the land and soil; skilled, smart individuals creating generational wealth for their community.

At its peak, Sandy Ground was home to 150 Black families and is still home to their descendants, like Julie (five generations later). Against the pressures of New York City’s rapid and constant change, Sandy Ground’s longevity is a testament to the communities foundational strength. Sandy Ground is currently an authentic historic site, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the New York State Register of Historic Places.

Head there today, and you can catch a glimpse of this history yourself at these significant locations and landmarks below.

Prince’s Bay

Staten Island’s South Shore, near Sandy Ground

Long before industrialization, Prince’s Bay was renowned for its abundant oyster beds. In the early 1800s, free Black oystermen from Maryland brought their expertise north and established prosperous businesses on Staten Island. Their enterprises thrived until 1916, when pollution and new restrictions on raw oyster sales crushed the industry—effectively erasing the longstanding leadership of Black oystermen in New York’s maritime economy.

Photo of Princes Bay Beach on the South Shore, https://www.oldstatenisland.org

 

Rossville A.M.E. Zion Church

Location: 584 Bloomingdale Road

Established in 1850, the Rossville A.M.E. Zion Church provided refuge for freedom seekers along the Underground Railroad. Protected by a strong community of oystermen and landowners, many formerly enslaved people found safe harbor here. The church’s cemetery dates to 1852 and holds over 500 graves of Sandy Ground residents, a poignant record of the generations who shaped this historic community.

Photos by Owen Reiter for the Staten Island Advance

 

The Reverend Isaac & Rebecca Gray Coleman House

Location: 1482 Woodrow Road

Built before 1859, this original Sandy Ground home was owned by Reverend Isaac Coleman and his wife, Rebecca Gray Coleman. Once one of 150 Black-owned homes and businesses in the area, the Coleman House stands as a testament to a thriving Black maritime economy rooted in faith, industry, and activism.

Photos of Reverend Issac Coleman and home in 1900 & 2010, NYC Landmark Preservation Commission

 
 

Baymen’s Cottages

Location: 565 & 569 Bloomingdale Road

Constructed between 1887 and 1898, these “Baymen’s Cottages” represent a vanishing piece of Sandy Ground’s architectural history. Once common throughout the neighborhood, few remain today—preserving the memory of Black oystermen who built successful livelihoods at the height of New York’s oyster industry.

Photos of 565 & 569 Bloomingdale Rd. 1940 & 2010, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

 
 

The Sandy Ground Historical Museum

Location: 1538 Woodrow Road

For more than 40 years, the Sandy Ground Historical Museum has led efforts to preserve and promote the community’s unique legacy—both as part of the Underground Railroad and as a cornerstone of New York’s oyster trade. Housed on what is likely the only intact 18th-century African burial ground in America, the museum safeguards the largest collection of Staten Island’s African American history, including art, quilts, letters, photographs, and rare books.

Though currently closed to walk-ins for maintenance, the museum continues to offer educational programming online and outdoors.

Photos of the museum house a t 1538 in 1939-41 & Current from NYC Municipal Archives Digital Collections & Sandy Ground Historical Society

 
 

Environmental and human history are inseparable. We can’t restore one without the other.

New York City’s identity cannot be separated from its natural resources and those who cared for, utilized, and lived off of them before us. To revive local waterways without upholding the history and knowledge of those who experienced their former state is an incomplete endeavor. By celebrating Sandy Ground’s maritime legacy and supporting institutions like the Sandy Ground Historical Museum this #BlackHistoryMonth and year-round, we can ensure that both NYC’s ecological recovery and cultural history move forward together.

 

SUPPORT OUR PARTNERS

By championing the museum’s work, we honor Sandy Ground’s enduring story of freedom, entrepreneurship, and environmental stewardship—bridging the past with our present and future.

Help repair and maintain the Sandy Ground Historical Museum—an irreplaceable link to New York’s Black and environmental history with a donation this year. Click below to give and learn more.

Many thanks to Julie Moody Lewis for her contributions to this piece, the historical society’s longterm partnership, and support for Billion Oyster Project’s restoration work in New York Harbor.

Sources & Further Reading: