New York Harbor Channel Focus Point Of The Month: June, 2025

STATEN ISLAND’S LEMON CREEK ESTUARY  (40.511403, -74.195573 )

Before Europeans colonized New York City, Lemon Creek was an abundant food source for native American Indians.  Oyster beds along the Staten Island shoreline fed the local population.  In time, the oysters from New York Harbor were not only consumed locally but became an important economy.  The Lemon Creek Estuary has a rich history of oyster harvesting.  Most notably, it is told by the featured photo of the Sandy Ground Quilt, hand-crafted by Sylvia Moody D’Alessandro.

The quilt identifies Staten Island’s first black community that dates back to 1828 where black Marylanders would routinely travel north to work the oyster harvest.  Today, as the nation recognizes Juneteenth, the Sandy Ground Historical Society flourishes with Julie Moody Lewis serving as president, a descendant of the original community.  In addition to Sandy Ground’s contribution as a key player in New York Harbor’s oyster history, the society is proud to rally the cry of ‘The Gateway To Freedom’ as Sandy Ground was an essential stop on the Underground Railway for black slaves to find refuge as they traveled north to freedom in the mid nineteenth century.

In 2019, New York Harbor Channel organized a celebration of Walt Whitman’s 200th Birthday at the Bay Ridge Ferry dock in Brooklyn.  During the ceremonies, young Ahmir Ojelade spoke about Whitman’s connection to oyster harvesting communities around New York Harbor.  Ahmir is a sixth generation son of Eben Bishop an oysterman from Maryland and descendant of Moses Harris founder of the Sandy Ground community.  Listen to his delivery here.  And speaking of New York City ferry docks, one of the newest Staten Island Ferry boats is named Sandy Ground in recognition of the community.

According to Julie Moody Lewis, the Lemon Creek Estuary was the spot where the oyster harvesters would row their haul from nearby Arthur Kill reefs and gently lower their nets in order to allow the oysters to ‘drink’ the brackish water found in the estuary.  Truly a labor of love, the oyster houses of lower Manhattan, where Whitman was known to frequent, demanded the exquisite taste, meal after meal, year after year.

Another featured guest of the 2019 New York Harbor Channel event was the Billion Oyster Project.  At that time, the Bay Ridge Ferry pier was one of their oyster monitoring stations.  Here students from the New York Harbor School as well as local science classrooms in the area would monitor the scientific data of the oyster cages as well as the harbor water conditions.  The Billion Oyster Project’s goal is to produce edible oysters harvested from New York Harbor from sustainable reefs.

Today, Lemon Creek is one possible Billion Oyster Project reef qualified for regeneration.  They are only a few years away from claiming that tested harbor oysters are truly safe to eat.  This amazing accomplishment will return the key component of New York Harbor’s original ecosystem that flourished before 20th Century pollution destroyed the entire marine habitat.

As environmental organizations continue their efforts to bring clean solutions, New York Harbor Channel encourages the return of a natural and sustainable oyster industry.  We call on Sandy Ground to be instrumental in the harvesting methods, both new and old, to make Lemon Creek a viable food source once again.