Mariner's Harbor Dutch Reformed Church

I don't know much, in fact nothing, about the history of this church. I guess it flourished in the days when the street names of Mariner's Harbor (Walloon, Van Name, Brabant, Confederation) reflected the heritage of their inhabitants. I think it closed up in the sixties.

Presently it's the Fellowship Baptist Church, an independent Baptist congregation run by the Rev. Williams. Except for the color and the front steps the church looks pretty much the same. I was inside it several times years back for an old job and it was well maintained and comfortable seeming.


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Mariner's Harbor Baptist Church

Nestled away near the Lawgiver's home, this beautiful old red brick church was initially built as the Mariner's Harbor Baptist Church. It closed down when the congregation merged with other congregations and formed the Willowbrook Baptist Church back in the late sixties. At present it's a Seventh Day Adventist Church. It's been changed a little with some decorative touches and the peak on the steeple lost to time and wear but it's still a striking church.


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First Presbyterian - Stapleton

Tucked away in the back streets of Stapleton is the beautiful old First Presbyterian Church. It clearly was once an active and wealthy congregation. The Pouch family (wealthy Islanders) were members and somebody shelled out for Tiffany stained glass windows (picture later).

As Stapleton changed and the old families and white folks ran away the congregation dwindled and finally closed in the early nineties. A Spanish evangelical church occupied the building for a time but they too pulled out. Recently it was bought by Mount Sinai Baptist Church and they've been renovating the buildings and restoring them for active use.


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The church is hidden away in one of the most beautiful and secret places on Staten Island. Lining its narrow streets are numerous large and well kept homes. My mother's friend, Helen Pose lived in a large house on Harrison Street and even as a little kid I knew it was beautiful.


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Canal Street - Stapleton

Even when I was little Stapleton was still a major commercial hub. The decay triggered by the Stapleton Houses and the methadone clinic weren't obviously terminal yet. Store ran along Broad Street from Van Duzer Street all the way to Tappen Park and Wright Street. The only exception was the towering remnants of the Piels Brewery.
Around Tappen Park on Water Street and Canal Street were tons of stores and some restaurants. It was beautiful.

Well that was over thirty years ago. People like my mom and the equally late Helen Pose struggled against the tide of crime, apathy and the cheapness of the merchants and had as much luck as King Canute.

I went to the NY Parks sponsored Oktoberfest today and it was barely a pale shade of the street fairs and flea markets held there through the early eighties. Sure there's development going on today and few builders are cleaning up some of the decayed buildings but it's not the same and I imagine never will be. I wish them luck but it's just not the same.


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That's the Meadow Brook Dairy building, second from the left behind the scaffolding.

Tompkins Department Store

I remember my mom talking about going to Tompkins when she was a kid. It was one of the first real department stores on the island and supposedly one of the finest. By the time I came around it was just a memory. Here's some pictures.


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Levi Stubbs - RIP

Levi Stubbs died yesterday. He'd been sick for some time and hadn't toured in eight years. I obviously didn't know the man but I'm still sad.

I can't think of a more powerful pop song right now than "Reach Out I'll Be There." There might be but I don't care.

S&S - updated

I've added links were possible and changed some of the art.