Summer in the City: Staten Island

Summary

Podcast Summary

Podcast: All Of It with Alison Stewart
Episode: Summer in the City: Staten Island
Date: August 11, 2026
Host: Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Guest: John Kilcullen (Director of Staten Island’s Conference House Park & President of the Preservation League of Staten Island)

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Episode Overview

Alison Stewart continues her “Summer in the City” borough series with a deep dive into Staten Island’s parks, history, and vibrant cultural offerings. Joined by local parks advocate and administrator John Kilcullen, the conversation highlights the borough’s natural beauty, accessibility, historic sites, and a strong sense of community. Listener call-ins and texts share personal favorites and hidden gems, framing Staten Island as a must-visit for New Yorkers and tourists alike.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Staten Island’s Identity and Accessibility

• Staten Island’s Reputation:
  • "Sometimes it's referred to as the forgotten borough..." (01:57)
  • John Kilcullen reframes it: "Or the special borough." (02:02)
  • Emphasizes it’s no more distant from Manhattan than some parts of Queens or Bronx.
  • Highlight: Every significant park is accessible via mass transit, particularly the train and Staten Island Ferry.
  • Kilcullen: "You could take the ferry, take the Staten Island Railway. And every park, the larger ones and the smaller ones, are accessible by mass transit..." (02:12)

Top Parks and Outdoor Activities

• Blue Heron Park
  • 218-acre wet woods with a variety of wildlife, especially birds.
  • Kilcullen: "It's a great spot for birders. I mean, water equals birds." (03:10)
• Long Pond Park
  • Unique glacier pond with clear water, surrounding trails (2-3 miles), and proximity to the Richmond Valley train stop.
  • Multiple kettle ponds and walkable access.
• Conference House Park and South Shore Parks
  • Southernmost point in New York State.
  • Historic houses (e.g., Sigyn Mansion), miles of waterfront for beach walks.
  • Kilcullen: "If you like to take beachfront walks, every park on the south shore...you can connect from Conference House and probably walk six, seven miles unabated." (05:17)

Water Activities: Kayaking & Swimming

• Kayak Staten Island (Listener call – 05:25)
  • Free kayaking events at Conference House Park and South Beach.
  • Rosa: "They have a lot of free kayaking programs out here for kids and adults alike. So I bought my own and I just launch off of our own south beach..." (05:42)
• Swimming Opportunities
  • Public beaches: South Beach, Midland Beach, Wolf’s Pond.
  • Cleaner waters than ever.
  • Fort Wadsworth mentioned as an insider swimming spot.
  • Kilcullen: "They are the cleanest they've ever been...You can swim with lifeguards, which is the way to go..." (06:28)

Wildlife and Nature Preserves

• Mount Loretto Unique Area
  • State property with visible wildlife—seals and bald eagles.
  • Interconnected with Lemon Creek and Conference House parks.
  • (Listener PJ call – 07:12)
• Lemon Creek Park
  • Features 105 acres and a Greek Revival mansion.

Historic Sites and Cultural Heritage

• Olmsted-Beil House Park
  • Celebrating Frederick Law Olmsted’s early work; active restoration projects and annual Open House NYC event.
  • Kilcullen: "Everything happens on Staten Island. Frederick Law got his start when he was designing prospects…nature provided helped Olmsted…" (08:03)
• Snug Harbor (Listener Andrew call – 09:16)
  • Gardens and summer Lantern Festival.
• Conference House Landmark
  • Site of failed Revolutionary War peace negotiations (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson mentioned).
  • Annual Peace Conference event (September 12).
• Alice Austen House
  • Important site for women’s and LGBTQ+ history; one of America’s earliest female photographers.
  • Kilcullen: "Her photographs were just a time capsule of the time period. And now the museum talks about the house and the LGBT community..." (11:24)
• Sri Lankan Art and Cultural Museum
  • Part of a diverse array of cultural destinations.
• Historic Richmond Town
  • Living history village, preserved buildings, annual Labor Day fair for hands-on history experiences.
  • Kilcullen: "It’s very similar to Williamsburg, but a wonderful time capsule and great place to visit." (12:33)

Large Parks and Green Spaces

• The Greenbelt
  • Over 36 miles of trails; one of NYC’s largest parks.
• Freshkills Park
  • High elevations, preserved wetlands, kayaking opportunities.
  • Kilcullen: "Fresh Kills has some of the highest elevations in the city and some great preserved wetlands. And they do kayaking as well." (13:32)

Community Resources and Ranger Programs

• NYC Urban Park Rangers offer free educational, recreational, and nature programs across Staten Island.
• Kilcullen: "Shout out to the urban park rangers on Staten Island...They do the best program." (10:27)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Nature:
  • "The parks. I have to say that I know it sounds like a cliché, but it is. I mean, it is the parkland and it has some of the best parkland that is in its natural state." – John Kilcullen (01:38)
• On Stereotypes:
  • "Or the special borough." – John Kilcullen, reframing the “forgotten borough” (02:02)
• On Community and History:
  • "They tried to end the Revolutionary War there...And I think Staten Island's beautiful, and it's the greenest borough." – Andrew, listener (09:17)
• On Water Quality:
  • "They are the cleanest they've ever been." – John Kilcullen, on NYC waters (06:28)
• On Inclusivity and Representation:
  • "Now the museum talks about the house and the LGBT community, and it's worth the visit." – John Kilcullen, on the Alice Austen House (11:24)
• On Exploring Staten Island:
  • "Just encourage folks to come out, get on the train, look at the map, and you can just drop down to all these parks." – John Kilcullen (13:05)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:12 – Why the Parks are Staten Island’s Highlight
• 02:02 – Staten Island: Forgotten or Special Borough?
• 02:42 – How to Get Around & Mass Transit Access
• 02:46 – Blue Heron Park
• 03:25 – Long Pond Park and Unique Features
• 04:22 – Role as South Shore Parks Administrator
• 05:25 – Kayak Staten Island and Water Activities (Listener – Rosa)
• 06:28 – Public Beaches and Swimming
• 07:12 – Mount Loretto Unique Area and Wildlife (Listener – PJ)
• 08:01 – Olmsted-Beil House, Open House NYC
• 09:16 – Snug Harbor and the Lantern Festival (Listener – Andrew)
• 10:27 – Urban Park Ranger Programs
• 11:07 – Alice Austen House & LGBTQ+ History
• 12:33 – Historic Richmond Town: “Living History”
• 13:05 – Final Recommendations: Greenbelt, Freshkills, General Advice

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Further Information & Resources

• Find park events and resources at nyc.gov/parks
• Learn about Conference House Park: conferencehouse.org
• Olmsted-Beil House Friends: friendsofolmstedeilhouse.org
• Kayak programs: kayakstatenisland.org

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This episode paints Staten Island as an accessible, beautiful, and culturally rich destination, brimming with green space, historic resonance, and community pride—worthy of every New Yorker’s summer bucket list.

Transcript

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[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Summer isn't over yet. That means it's time for another installment of our summer Summer in the city series. Here in all of it, we go borough to borough, discussing the best sites to see and activities to do during these hot, sunny, sunny months. So far, we've covered Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. Today we're heading to Staten island. It boasts over 170 parks and 12,000 acres of protected parkland, as well as a variety of historical museums and homes. There's something for everyone. Plus you get to ride one of the world's most famous ferries to get there. Here to talk about Staten Island's best summer activities is John Kilcullen. He's the director of Staten Island's Conference House park and the president of the Preservation League of Staten Island.

[Co-host/Interviewer]

John, welcome to all of it.

[John Kilcullen]

Thank you for having me.

[Alison Stewart]

Listeners, we want to hear from you. What do you like to do on Staten Island? Do you have a favorite park? What's on your summer bucket list for the borough? Is there anything more people should see or know about Staten island when they visit? The number is 2124-3396-9222-1233. WNYC. You can call in and join us on air or you can text to us at that number as well. What's your favorite thing about Staten Island?

[John Kilcullen]

The parks. I have to say that I know it sounds like a cliche, but it is. I mean, it is the parkland and it has some of the best parkland that is in its natural state. So preserved areas with bluffs, particularly at conference House, wetlands, salt marsh, you name it, Staten island has it.

[Alison Stewart]

Sometimes it's referred to as the forgotten borough because it's so isolated, it's harder to get there from other places.

[John Kilcullen]

Or the special borough.

[Alison Stewart]

That's a nice way to put it, the special borough. What do you think people must understand about Staten Island?

[John Kilcullen]

It's unique. I mean, it's no further from Manhattan or Manhattan is from Staten island, vice versa. And it's no different than going to the best parts of the eastern Queens or northern Bronx. And there is mass transit. There is a train that gets to all the parks that I oversee and many of the parks. So you could Take the ferry, take the Staten Island Railway. And every park, the larger ones and the smaller ones are accessible by mass transit, which makes that. I think that's something that people don't think about.

[Alison Stewart]

Let's talk about some of those parks. We're going to talk about Blue Heron Park.

[John Kilcullen]

Blue heron, yes.

[Alison Stewart]

First of all, we see blue herons at the park.

[John Kilcullen]

Yes, you will. Around the ponds. They're there. What makes Blue Heron is a great park. It's like 218 acres and it's a wet woods, which means the natural ground is going to be wet throughout the whole year. So it has a lot of great wildlife that depends on such wet woods.

[Alison Stewart]

Is it good for birders?

[John Kilcullen]

100%. It's a great spot for birders. I mean, water equals birds. Some of the best birds that you want to see are around bodies of water.

[Alison Stewart]

We're going to talk about South Shore area.

[John Kilcullen]

Correct.

[Alison Stewart]

Long Pond Park.

[John Kilcullen]

Long Pond park, one of my favorite. One of the parks in my group, Long Pond. What makes Long Pond unique? It's a glacier pond that sits slightly higher than the surrounding elevation, so it tends not to get a lot of runoff. And it's very clear. So it's worth. There are about 2 miles, 3 miles of trails around the park. And again, the train line is literally across the street. You walk in and there's Long Pond.

[Alison Stewart]

I looked at a map of it and it looks like there's quite a few areas of water in that park.

[John Kilcullen]

There's the main long pond and then there's smaller kettle ponds within the park. So you could. And like I said, you can't get lost and you can go right to the park from the train. That's the long. That's the Richmond Valley train stop. If people are taking notes in your

[Alison Stewart]

work for the New York City parks, you're the director of Conference House Park. Tell us a little bit about that.

[John Kilcullen]

Well, actually, I'm the administrator of South Shore Parks. So it's a broader grouping really. It's managing the parks that have unique natural areas and historic houses. So these parks that are. The parks that are within my group have, you know, unique. Like I said, the Wet Woods Conference House, southernmost point of New York State. Blue heron, like I just talked about, Wet Woods. Lemmon Creek park, one of my favorite. It's 105 acres. The Sigyn Mansion, an 1840 Greek Revival style house, is part of the park's historic house trust. And then the other 105 acres, there's about two miles of waterfront. So all the Parks here. If you like to take beachfront walks. Every park that if you look on the south shore of Staten island, you can connect from Conference House and probably walk six, seven miles unabated.

[Co-host/Interviewer]

Let's take a call. This is Rosa on Staten island calling in. Hi, Rosa. Thank you so much for calling in.

[Rosa]

Hi, Allison. And shout out to John. He's a great advocate for our parks out here. You know him well.

[John Kilcullen]

Hi, Rosa.

[Rosa]

Yeah, speaking of beaches, I just wanted to shout out our public beaches. I got my start kayaking with a nonprofit group, Kayak Staten Island.

[Alison Stewart]

Yay.

[Rosa]

Just started Lifelong love. Yeah, yeah, shout out to them. They have a lot of free kayaking programs out here for kids and adults alike. So I bought my own and I just launch off of our own south beach right there off the boardwalk on the shore of Staten Island.

[Co-host/Interviewer]

Thanks for the call. Yeah, we've heard about kayaking. If someone's interested in kayaking or canoeing, where should they go?

[John Kilcullen]

Actually, the kayak, Staten island is actually within the park, so they have a setup so they can go to kayak Staten island and see the next remaining dates and they can kayak for free right at Conference House park, right off the beach of Conference House Park.

[Co-host/Interviewer]

I read in one of your bios that you're a swimmer.

[John Kilcullen]

Yes, I am.

[Co-host/Interviewer]

Where do you like to go swimming?

[John Kilcullen]

There are many beaches. And I will say this to the people who have doubts about the waters off of New York City. They are the cleanest they've ever been. Fort Wadsworth is a particular spot to go where I may or may not go into water that says don't enter. But it is a great. You know, that was a put me on the spot there, Allison. Sorry, but no. The waters off of Staten island are amazing. There are the public beaches. South Beach, Midland Beach, Wolf's Pond are all public beaches. You can swim with lifeguards, which is the way to go if you're a not a strong swimmer.

[Alison Stewart]

PJ on Staten Island. Hey, pj. Thanks for calling, all of it.

[P.J. Greiner]

Hey, how are you?

[Alison Stewart]

Okay. Doing well.

[P.J. Greiner]

John, this is P.J. greiner. How are you? Good, good.

[John Kilcullen]

Good to hear from you.

[P.J. Greiner]

I'm great. Thank you for all your good work out there. I just wanted to mention a non New York City park, the Mount Loretto. Unique area. Amazing wildlife visible there, including seals and bald eagles. And you might want to highlight some of the things you could see there.

[John Kilcullen]

100% agree. It abuts Lemon Creek and Conference House, so that's wonderful state property that I would encourage folks to Visit and you can. These parks are all interconnected, as PJ just said.

[Alison Stewart]

One thing I thought was interesting is you have Olmsted Beale House Park.

[John Kilcullen]

Correct.

[Alison Stewart]

And of course you're talking about the

[John Kilcullen]

person Frederick, Frederick Law Olmsted, one of my favorite parks. I'm going to give a shout out to the friends of Olmstead Beale House who are tirelessly working to restore the house. You can go to their website, the Friends of Olmsted Beale and they're going to have for open house NYC which is October 17th and 18th. You can visit the park and see the house and learn about the great work. So they're in the active stages of restoring the porch that was originally there. And what I like to say, everything happens on Staten Island. Frederick Law got his start when he was designing prospects. So the inspiration as you opened the show, the inspiration that nature provided helped Olmsted with the wonderful Prospect park and Central Park.

[Co-host/Interviewer]

We're talking about our Summer in the City series with Staten Island. I'm speaking with John Kilcullen and he's

[Alison Stewart]

here to suggest some places to go

[Co-host/Interviewer]

and things to do on Staten Island.

[Alison Stewart]

Listeners, we want to know what you

[Co-host/Interviewer]

love to do on Staten Island.

[Alison Stewart]

Our number is 2124-3396-9221-2433.

[Co-host/Interviewer]

WNYC Andrew is calling from Staten Island. Hi Andrew.

[John Kilcullen]

Hi.

[Andrew]

Longtime listener and full time Staten resident. I just want to say that nice we I want to mention Snug Harbor. I'm not sure if you mentioned that yet, but it is a beautiful garden and up until like I think at the end of the summer they usually have a lantern festival that you can go and like light these lanterns and they float. And I also wanted to mention the cons House. Most people when they come to Staten island, they only go to the north shore by the ferry. But the conference house all the way on the south shore is a historical, I mean, monument. And they tried to end the Revolutionary War there. I'm pretty sure it was John Adams and Thomas Jefferson if I'm correct. But they just don't mention this stuff. And I think Staten Island's beautiful and it's the greenest borough. So I just wanted to shout out my borough.

[Co-host/Interviewer]

All right, this says, this is a text that says former urban Park Ranger here, Bronx 76. Please mention all the terrific and free programs the urban park rangers offer.

[John Kilcullen]

Yes, I love my urban park rangers. Shout out to the urban park rangers on Staten island throughout the city. They do the best program. So go to The Parks website, nyc.govparks and you can see all their programs. I did want to shout out Andrew, thank you. But again, more shout outs. But the Conference house Association in September 12th has their annual peace conference which talks about the conference that Andrew just mentioned. So you can go to the conferencehouse.org and learn more about that.

[Co-host/Interviewer]

This Texas Staten island is a tiny Asian art mecca. The Sri Lankan Art and Cultural Museum. You should check that out.

[John Kilcullen]

Yep, yep.

[Co-host/Interviewer]

We also got. We're getting a lot of calls about Alice Austin's house.

[John Kilcullen]

Shout out to Alice Austin and the team there. That's a short distance from the ferry. Fantastic stuff that Victoria and her staff are doing there. So I give a shout out to

[Co-host/Interviewer]

the tell people who Alice Austin is.

[John Kilcullen]

Alice Austin was a Staten island resident who grew up in the house through life, unfortunately, and taken photographs, exhaustive amount of photographs. She went into, quote unquote, with the poor house with her partner at the time, Gertrude Tate. Many years later, it was discovered her photographs were just a time capsule of the time period. And now the museum talks about the house and the LGBT community and it's worth the visit. The views. I love the North Shore. I love the South Shore. The views are spectacular from the Alice Austin Park.

[Co-host/Interviewer]

Let's talk to Kevin online for. Hey, Kevin, thanks for calling. Oh, Kevin hung up. Hey. He was a. I guess he was a tour guide on Staten Island. I said go. So we'll follow you, Kevin. Yeah, There you go. Let's look out. Historic Richmond Town. I wanted to mention that shout out

[John Kilcullen]

to historic Richmond Town. Jessica. Yes, that is again, a treasure trove of great buildings, wonderful landscape. So I encourage folks to check that out as well. And that is reachable by the train as well.

[Co-host/Interviewer]

It's described as a living history village. What does that mean exactly?

[John Kilcullen]

It's a living history. Some of the buildings that was the center of the Richmond county at the time, during the colonial, before it moved to St. George. So some of the buildings are intact and other buildings were saved and reassembled there. So it's very similar to Williamsburg, but a wonderful time capsule and great place to visit. And they have a Labor Day fair every year, so it's worth going there or just paying a visit and really taking in the grounds.

[Alison Stewart]

Tell us about anything that we miss. Some things that you think people should

[John Kilcullen]

know about, there are so many. I just encourage folks to come out, get on the train, look at the map, and you can just drop down to all these parks. And I do have to give a shout out to the Greenbelt, which is the Greenbelt and Fresh Kills, two of the largest parks in the city. I encourage folks to check those out. The Greenbelt has over 36 miles of trails and Fresh Kills has some of the highest elevations in the city and some great preserved wetlands. And they do kayaking as well. So can't go wrong with any park on Staten Island.

[Alison Stewart]

Where should people find more information?

[John Kilcullen]

Again, if they go to newyorkcity.gov parks they can find and then from there you can drop down to some of the other groups that were mentioned as well.

[Alison Stewart]

John, Kilco, Cullen, thanks for all the

[John Kilcullen]

thank you so much for having me. All right,

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