Hidden Waters of New York City Quotes

“Hourglass and Stump Ponds are accessible by hiking trails that circle behind Pouch Camp. The lengthy walk that is required to reach Hourglass Pond gives it the distinction of being the most secluded natural area in the city, according to Bruce Kershner,”
― Sergey Kadinsky, Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs

“For Charleston and Rossville residents, the forest around Clay Pit Ponds was an irreplaceable natural area with native and industrial history. In 1951, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses proposed filling in the freshwater wetlands with trash to prepare the land for development. The Federation of Sportsmen and Conservationists, the Staten Island Museum, and the Audubon Society teamed up to save the seven ponds in the preserve, home to herons, ducks, muskrats, and bitterns. “I can’t imagine any park commissioner in the world permitting the dumping of garbage into such beautiful ponds,” said W. Lynn McCracken, chairman of the Park Association of Staten Island.”
― Sergey Kadinsky, Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs

“The geology of Staten Island is the most complex of the city’s boroughs, containing the terminal moraine of the last ice age, a fault line from 470 million years ago, the southern tail of the Palisades formation, and sediments collected over the millennia.”
― Sergey Kadinsky, Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs

“Mill Basin was the only inlet of Jamaica Bay that had a drawbridge at its outlet, enabling tall vessels to pass through. Completed in 1940, the Mill Basin Drawbridge, which carried the Belt Parkway between Barren Island and Bergen Beach, had a clearance above water at high tide of 35 feet (when it wasn’t raised). The state is currently in the process of replacing this drawbridge with a fixed bridge, which will have a clearance of 60 feet.”
― Sergey Kadinsky, Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs

“On Staten Island, instead of sewers, an innovative Bluebelt program repurposed the borough’s ponds and creeks as natural drainage corridors for runoff coming from nearby streets, reducing the burden for sewage treatment plants. The”
― Sergey Kadinsky, Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs

“In Manhattan, appreciation of history is exemplified in Collect Pond Park, a one-acre green space in Manhattan’s Civic Center whose name commemorates a pond where many pivotal events took place in the first two centuries of the city’s history. In 2012, the city began a reconstruction project that included a reflecting pool to evoke the park’s namesake pond. To”
― Sergey Kadinsky, Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs