Discovering Staten Island

Book excerpt: As one of the five boroughs of New York City, Staten Island has a rich and colorful past, and it is full of places where people have shaped the city, state and nation. To commemorate its 350th anniversary, local community leaders and educators have gathered together this unprecedented collection. Walk in the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin, Susan B. Anthony, Langston Hughes, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the Dalai Lama; visit Revolutionary War sites; relive the entrepreneurial drive and inventiveness of business and medical pioneers; and imagine the lives of Irish, Norwegian, Italian, Sri Lankan and Liberian immigrants. Its shores are awash in history, from Lenape trails to Dutch and French farms, from the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company to legendary sports figures and quaint historic districts. Their struggles, hardships, triumphs and achievements, in spectacular and everyday Staten Island locations, are brought to life.