MOMENTS IN STATEN ISLAND'S
BLACK HERITAGE

Twenty-seven years later, slavery itself was abolished in the state of New York. Staten Islanders gathered at the Swan Hotel in West Brighton to celebrate this long-overdue milestone.

On the 23rd of February in 1828, Captain John Jackson purchased land in Westfield, an area known today as Sandy Ground. This is the first record of a Black man buying land in Richmond County, New York.

By the 1830's, freed men and women from all over New York State and from as far away as Maryland and Virginia settled in the area of Sandy Ground. These early settlers were skilled in the oyster trade and brought this knowledge with them to Staten Island.

Oyster harvesting was a major business on Staten Island during the 1800's and was mainly conducted on the Island's south shore. The area of Prince's Bay was the main hub and was within walking distance from Sandy Ground. It is here that men went out to rake oysters up from the ocean floor to be sent to Manhattan and other locations for sale.

Beyond the oyster trade, there were other occupations that could be had, as well as work to be done on one's own land. Ambitious individuals struck out to start businesses of their own.