Archaeology Presentation and Holiday Party Dec. 7th

“Is It There Or Not?” --
Searching for the NYC Farm Colony Potter’s Field

Sunday, December 7, 2014
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Free to the Public

Nature Center, Croton Point Park
1 Croton Point Ave. Croton on Hudson, NY 10520

VHB Engineering, Surveying and Landscape Architecture, P.C. (VHB), White Plains, New York, and their consultant Chrysalis Archaeological Consultants, Inc. (Chrysalis), Brooklyn, NY, completed a Phase IA/IB archaeological assessment of parts of a 46-acre parcel owned by the City of New York. The parcel is located on Staten Island and it once hosted the New York City (NYC) Farm Colony. NFC Associates, LLC, won the rights to develop the parcel from the City Planning Commission. Because the project requires disposition of City-owned land and the demolition and/or rehabilitation of NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission landmarked buildings, cultural resources investigations were required under City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR).

The LPC was particularly concerned about confirming the presence of a potter’s field which had been documented on a 1911 topographic survey map of the Colony. LPC, however, did not want systematic excavation within the cemetery area. Rather, they wanted the cemetery to be avoided. To this end, VHB developed a work plan focused on research, systematic survey across heavily overgrown terrain, and limited subsurface investigations in an area of the reported cemetery which had been subject to post-cemetery use filling. This presentation focuses on the results of the investigations, what was proposed, what “worked,” and what we concluded.

Ms. Carol S. Weed (VHB) and Ms. Alyssa Loorya (Chrysalis) will present the results of the Phase IA and Phase IB archaeological investigations. Ms. Weed is a Senior Project Manager at VHB and Ms. Loorya is President of Chrysalis and current President of the New York Archaeological Council NYC chapter (PANYC).

Hosted by
The L. A. Brennan Lower Hudson Chapter
of the NYS Archaeological Association

The Lecture will be followed by our annual Holiday Party!