#sandy ground

A year after slavery was abolished in New York State, Capt. John Jackson made history -- he was the first Black man to purchase property on Staten Island on Feb. 23, 1828, in the area today known as Sandy Ground in Rossville.

Further anchoring Sandy Ground’s place in history: It is the oldest continuously inhabited community established by free slaves in North America.

Capt. Jackson was an operator of a ferry on the Blazing Star line, which traveled from the Arthur Kill to New Jersey. It is believed he ferried escaped slaves from the South to Sandy Ground, making it one of the stops on the Underground Railroad.

Sandy Ground was initially known as Harrisville, named for Moses and Silas Harris who later settled in the area in the hopes of finding land suitable for farming. Instead, they found grounds that were “sandy” -- hence its current name.

The Harris brothers introduced one crop that would grow there: strawberries. This became a profitable venture for the brothers as they delivered the strawberries to market themselves, cutting out the middleman.

Soon after, Sandy Ground became home to freed slaves from Maryland who were fleeing restrictive laws that forbid them from gathering for educational and religious purposes. They were also driven away by a law that prohibited them from harvesting for oysters in the Chesapeake Bay unless they were accompanied by an 18-year-old white male.

At Sandy Ground, they found abundant oyster beds in the Arthur Kill by Prince’s Bay. With that came economic stability, but more importantly, they found freedom from persecution.

Sandy Ground grew to include 108 families with Rossville AME Zion Church as the community anchor.

The founder and first minister of the church was William H. Pitts, a Virginia-born African Methodist Episcopal Zion minister who purchased land in Sandy Ground in May 1849 and began holding prayer services in his home, according to the City Landmarks Preservation Commission. The church was formally recognized in December 1850. Two years later, the congregation purchased land on Crabtree Avenue to build a church, along with an adjoining cemetery. By 1890, the congregation had outgrown the simple clapboard church and built a new church at its present-day site at 584 Bloomingdale Road.

Rossville AME Zion Church was also renowned for its camp meetings, open-air barbecues, clambakes and other social events that drew hundreds of participants both Black and white.

The church was designated a New York City landmark in 2011 -- the cemetery already had landmark status. The Rev. Issac Coleman and Rebecca Gray Coleman House and two “baymen’s cottages” were also granted landmark status in 2011. The two identical cottages, built between 1887 and 1898, housed the oystermen.

Today, Sandy Ground is home to 10 families who are descendants of the original settlers and who still worship at Rossville AME Zion Church. The Sandy Ground Historical Society holds photographs, exhibitions and tours to document its place in history.

In further recognizing Sandy Ground’s legacy of freedom, one of the new Staten Island ferryboats that will be put into service has been christened The Sandy Ground.

(Photo courtesy of the Sandy Ground Historical Society: Oystermen at Sandy Ground, circa 1897).

Next time: In our next installment, we will tell the story of Sydney Howard Gay, a prominent abolitionist and key operator of the Underground Railroad who lived on Staten Island from 1848 to 1888.