When Far Rockaway Became a Village
Far Rockaway’s incorporation as a village marked a turning point in its development from resort edge to organized community with institutions, streets, and local identity.
Before the Airport: The Many Lives of Jamaica Bay
Excerpt: Long before airports and parkways, Jamaica Bay was a productive estuary shaped by Indigenous use, colonial settlement, fishing, and maritime life. This article introduces the deeper history of one of New York’s most transformed landscapes.
Rikers Island Before the Jail
Before incarceration defined Rikers Island, it was a colonial farm and family estate connected to Bowery Bay, the Poor Bowery, and the agricultural history of Queens.
John Bowne
John Bowne opened his home in Flushing to Quaker worship, defied Peter Stuyvesant, and won a transatlantic fight that helped shape early American religious liberty.
The First House on the Sand: How the Cornells Made Rockaway
In 1690, Richard Cornell established the first permanent European homestead on the Rockaway peninsula, creating the foundation for centuries of land ownership, settlement, and local history in Rockaway, Queens.
Francis Doughty and the Lost Colony of Mespat
In 1642, Rev. Francis Doughty obtained a vast patent at Mespat. War, dispute, and Dutch authority ended his colony—yet it shaped early Queens.
The Flushing Remonstrance: How Queens Helped Write the First Chapter of American Religious Freedom
In 1657, residents of Flushing, Queens challenged colonial authority over the persecution of Quakers. The Flushing Remonstrance became one of the earliest and boldest defenses of religious freedom in American history.
Maspeth and English Kills: Newtown’s Early Colonial Frontier
Maspeth began as one of Queens’s earliest and most troubled colonial settlements. Its history runs through Newtown Creek, English Kills, farms, roads, and the making of urban Queens.
Middletown and the German Settlement: A Lost Rural Community in Long Island City
Middletown, later known as the German Settlement, was a rural Newtown community of farms, schools, churches, and old roads before it was absorbed into Long Island City.
Dutch Kills: The Creek, Mills, and Farms Beneath Modern Long Island City
Dutch Kills was once a tidal creek country of mills, farms, and old Newtown families. Its hidden waterway still tells the story beneath modern Long Island City.