Just a short ride from the ferry on the north shore of Staten Island, New York, along the Kill Van Kull, lies the Snug Harbor Cultural Center—a collection of museums and gardens housed in and around 26 historic Greek revival, beaux arts, Italianate, and Victorian-style buildings. Although its buildings house arts organizations, Snug Harbor's origins are distinctly nautical.
During the mid-1700s, Scottish immigrant Thomas Randall made a sizable fortune in New York as a sea captain, ship owner, merchant, and privateer. In 1770, with a group of colonial merchants, he organized the Marine Society of New York City, whose goal was to raise funds to help indigent and distressed seamen and their orphans and widows. Randall bequeathed his large property holdings around Manhattan Island for the establishment of a "Sailors' Snug Harbor"—a refuge for old salts.
Eventually, trustees for the project received permission to build the facility outside of Manhattan, and a 130-acre farm on Staten Island was selected. In October 1831, the cornerstone was laid for Sailors' Snug Harbor's first building, a two-story Greek revival structure. In all, more than 60 buildings would be constructed, including a chapel, large dining hall, hospital, power plant, and sanatorium.
The first residents arrived on 1 August 1833. Among the 37 men, seven had lost a leg, two were blind, one was lame and another frostbitten, four were "decrepit," and five were rheumatic. The shipboard society and authoritarian life that the men were accustomed to had not encouraged independence and self-sufficiency. At Snug Harbor all their needs—food, shelter, clothing, and health services—were provided. They were even supplied with tobacco.
The board of trustees promoted the nautical traditions of obedience and proper behavior. The clergymen on the board also encouraged religion and morality and were strong advocates of temperance. By 1880 more than 800 residents were living at the harbor, and within 20 years their ranks swelled to 1,000. With a surplus of more than $2 million in the 1930s, Snug Harbor was referred to by the New York Times as the richest charitable institution in New York.
World War II changed everything. Revenues from Manhattan property owned by the Snug Harbor trust fell, and upkeep slipped because of personnel and material demands for the war effort. By 1945, the harbor's population had dropped to 375, primarily because of seamen pension plans and Social Security. In the mid-1960s, the number of residents fell to fewer than 200.
In 1965, the newly formed New York City Landmarks Commission stepped forward to save the remaining buildings, designating them as the city's first landmark structures and listing them on the National Register of Historic Places. The city purchased the property seven years later, and the trustees found a new home for the residents. In 1976 the last of the "snugs" were moved to new quarters in Sea Level, North Carolina.
The Snug Harbor Cultural Center now includes the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, the Staten Island Children's Museum, and the Staten Island Botanical Garden. Nautical buffs will probably be most interested in the John A. Noble Maritime Collection, housed in Building D, a former dormitory. A maritime artist, John Noble created most of his lithographs, drawings, oil paintings, and writings in a houseboat studio in old Port Johnson, New Jersey. In addition to Noble's works, the collection features exhibitions of other artwork, vintage photographs, ship models, and educational programs. Exhibits recalling the building's past include a re-created dormitory room and writing room.
The cultural center's grounds are open from dawn to dusk and admission is free. The Eleanor Proske Visitors' Center, Building C, and the Newhouse gallery, Building G, are open Tuesday-Sunday 1000-1700. For more information, call the center at (718) 448-2500 or visit its Web site: www.snug-harbor.org.