Postcards from the Rails
Dramatic harbor views from the crest of Corson Avenue, one of Staten Island's many hills. The Tompkinsville Railway station is located to the right of the smokestack at the botton of the hill. Bewteen is Victory Boulevard, arguably Staten Island's most ethnically diverse shopping area.
Adjacent to the Tompkinsville Station, at the water's edge, are a maritime services company, a gated community of three industrial buiidings coverted to lofts, and a city pool and recreation center on a pier.
Tompkinsville
Stapleton In 1832 William J. Staples, a merchant from Manhattan for whom the neighborhood is named, as well as Minthorne Tompkins, the son of Vice President Daniel D. Tompkins, acquired land from the Vanderbilts and laid out the streets. Staples and Tompkins started a ferry service from the neighborhood waterfront to Manhattan and began advertising their new village in 1836.
The woman on the Ferry with a hot dog in each hand explained. "I’m a fleet chef, I just had to taste New York hot dogs. Visit my galley on an oil tanker anchored in New York Harbor. I’ll get permission from the Captain; you go to Miller’s Launch at the appointed time.”
We left the dock near the Cromwell Center and pool. in a small sturdy boat. Speeding along in a small sturdy boat suddenly a loud thud we lurched; our bow hit a floating piece of telephone pole. Out on the Harbor is not for the faint of heart but the launch captain simply shrugged, “You never know what you’ll encounter out here.”
We pulled up along side the huge black hull. A narrow wooden staircase headed up diagonally against it, as far as our eye could see, to the deck. Everyone urged caution but I couldn’t wait to climb.
