Walking the St. George waterfront

Referring to the right-hand portion of a photo in my last post ("Sidewalks are for parking"), commenter Ace asks, "Isn't that the pretty walkway one encounters upon turning right when leaving the Staten Island ferry terminal in St. George?"

Here's the photo that prompted Ace's question:

Ace got it right. That pretty walkway, as he called it (Thanks, Ace), is the North Shore Esplanade, the original one, which appears to have been completed some time after World War II.

But for something less than a decade now, there's been another esplanade. This one, at the water's edge, is the Ballpark Esplanade, which was completed as part of the development of a new waterfront ballpark. The esplanade was designed by the same firm responsible for the redesign of Madison Square Park.

THE NORTH SHORE ESPLANADE

To get to the North Shore Esplanade, use the pedestrian exit and ramp to Richmond Terrace, where, as Ace wrote, you turn right. Here, the walkway is narrow--a narrow sidewalk, essentially.

But it widens considerably a few blocks ahead.

The esplanade sits atop a high retaining wall and looks down at the waterfront and out at the harbor. The views of the bay and Manhattan in the distance are panoramic, not intimate. In places, the sky seems very large. Except for the occasional walker, jogger or cyclist, you are almost certain to be the only person there.

THE BALLPARK ESPLANADE

To get to the Ballpark Esplanade, turn right inside the terminal concourse and walk to the Ballpark exit, which lets you out onto an observation deck with seating.

Down the ramp or the stairs is the beginning of the Ballpark Esplanade, which stretches from, roughly, Wall Street to Jersey Street, where it rejoins Richmond Terrace--a distance of 0.771 miles, according to gmap-pedometer.com.

The stretch nearest the ferry terminal and parking lot consists of a slowly rounding boardwalk . . .

. . . which ends as the Staten Island 9/11 memorial.

The esplanade continues from that memorial, but more informally, with macadam paths . . .

. . . and niches with low platforms for sitting, sunbathing or just staring at Manhattan, five miles across the water.

Further ahead, the shoreline narrows and the esplanade does, too, and in small clearings at the water's edge are clusters of fishermen, old, young or both, and entire families fishing and picnicking.

To the solitary walker especially but not exclusively, this island is a gift.

Comments

[Ajlouny]

It really is a great looking area. Nice pics.

[Dan Icolari]

Hey, Ace . . .

You can indeed take your bike on the ferry. In fact, at the new Whitehall terminal in Manhattan, there's a spiffy new bike waiting area at ground level, as well as defined seating and bike parking facilities on the newer boats (which means, most of the boats in service at this time).

There is a movement to build bike and pedestrian walkways on the Verrazano (as per the original design, interestingly enough, which was vetoed by Robert Moses--reportedly fearful of suicide attempts). You can find out more at the TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES site, transalt.org (I think).

[Ace]

In my limited experience of Staten Island thus far it seems to be a nice place for walks and even though I am not a bicyclist my impression on the Sunday afternoons I've been there is that it would be a delightful place to ride as well. I assume one can take one's bike on the ferry?

I wish I wish that we could walk / ride over the Verrazano Bridge.

[Steve Patterson]

As a tourist I found the walk from the ferry to your home along this route quite pleasurable. The variety of spaces encountered was pleasant and kept the walk from getting boring through repetition.