The Narrows are where, from the Flatlands, the van der Bilts crossed over into Staten Island. The eddies and tides would still be familiar to an eleven-year-old Cornelius Vanderbilt if he were again to pilot his periauger, laden with black-market passengers and vegetables, bound for Manhattan and profit. We can see where the Vanderbilt story begins. And on the shores of Staten Island, behind impregnable doors, we can just glimpse where it ends.
