Explore Staten Island’s Natural Retreats

Many New Yorkers head upstate to seek respite in nature, but just across the harbor on Staten Island are 170 green spaces, ranging from small pocket parks to vast greenways rife with hiking trails and wetlands. Thanks to the free, 25-minute trip on the Staten Island Ferry, finding a retreat from the hustle and bustle of the big city couldn’t be easier.

Staten Island’s Greenbelt

More than three times the size of Manhattan’s Central Park, Staten Island’s Greenbelt is a contiguous network of oak and beech forests, rolling meadows, tidal and freshwater wetlands, and a wealth of ponds and parks that sprawl across the heart of the island.

• 35 miles of trails at various difficulties for hikers and bikers.
• 2800 acres make it the site of New York City’s largest remaining forest preserve.
• A paradise for birders with diverse wildlife throughout the area.

Begin your adventure at the Greenbelt Nature Center at 700 Rockland Avenue to pick up trail maps, explore the educational exhibits, and chat with the knowledgeable staff before heading to the nearby trailheads.

High Rock Park

The cornerstone of the Staten Island Greenbelt, High Rock Park is one of the city’s most tranquil escapes. Five ponds, quiet wetlands, and wild woodlands invite contemplation in nature. Visitors can enjoy six walking trails, where they can spot flora such as highbush blueberries, stands of red maples, and patches of skunk cabbage. Moreover, keep your eyes peeled for all manner of critters, including migrating warblers, wood ducks, muskrats, and great blue herons.

Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden

Set on a tranquil 83-acre campus, the Smithsonian-affiliated Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden features gorgeous green spaces amid 28 historic structures. Originally a retirement community for sailors, it’s now home to 14 distinctive gardens—most notably, the Richmond County Savings Foundation Tuscan Garden, the Healing Garden, and the New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden—plus 10 acres of wetlands and a two-acre urban farm.

During springtime, visitors can participate in garden tours and volunteer opportunities with the NYC Compost Project. Admission to the general grounds and gardens, open seven days a week from dawn to dusk, is free, and it’s a 15-minute ride from the St George Ferry Terminal on bus S40 via Richmond Terrace or bus S44 via Henderson Ave.

Moses Mountain

Moses Mountain, located at the northwestern corner of Manor Road and Rockland Avenue, is one of the Greenbelt’s highest points, offering a 260-degree panorama that includes New Jersey’s Atlantic Highlands. However, at just 200 feet high, the man-made ‘mountain’ is actually a massive mound of serpentine rock, boulders, and soil that were blasted away to construct a highway by notorious New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses in the early 1960s.

The project, which would have destroyed the Greenbelt, was scrapped after opposition by concerned citizens. Over time, the barren pile of earth eventually sprouted trees and other vegetation, drawing animal life. Today, its dense landscape is a popular place for hikers who enjoy easy-grade trails, as well as naturalists seeking songbirds and birds of prey during hawk migrations.

The New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden

Get a dose of serenity at the New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden, just one of two of its kind in the United States, located at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden. Overlooking wetlands where blue herons can often be spotted, the garden features eight pavilions and two meditative outdoor spaces showcasing Chinese calligraphy and a variety of Gongshi scholar’s rocks, including a towering 15-ft formation at the central courtyard.

Visitors can wander along a bamboo forest path, enjoying the sounds of trickling waterfalls and koi ponds. Different seasons bring stunning blossoms of flowering magnolias, cherry blossoms, mahonia, jasmine, or redbud trees. Springtime walks explore the surrounding forests and wetlands, providing opportunities to see witch hazel, snow drops, crocus, and skunk cabbage. Visitors will also find walks focused on peonies and other springtime flowers while learning about their origins and significance.

Tai Chi & Meditation at Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art

Nestled in the heights of Lighthouse Hill, the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, founded by American collector Jacques Marchais in 1945, features fieldstone buildings and is the first example of Himalayan-style architecture in the United States. The museum, housing a trove of gilded statues, ritual objects, and more, was the first dedicated solely to Tibetan art.

The museum’s peaceful Samadhi Garden offers sweeping views of Staten Island’s landscape. Here, the treetops and unobstructed skies provide the perfect backdrop for Saturday classes in guided meditation (11:30am) and tai chi (3:30pm). Each two-hour class takes place in the prayer flag-lined garden, facilitated by the soothing sounds of wind chimes under the watchful gaze of a white Buddha statue. Open to everyone at every experience level, each class costs $12 and contains no religious undertones.

Conference House Park

Located at the southernmost point of New York State, Conference House Park houses four historic buildings that narrate the story of Staten Island across three centuries. The park’s namesake, the Conference House, a stone manor built in 1680, was named after the unsuccessful peace conference between the US and England during the Revolutionary War in 1776.

The 265-acre park offers views of Raritan Bay and New Jersey’s Perth Amboy, as well as canoe launching sites and trails for hiking and biking. Historically, the bluff served as a burial ground for the Lene Lenape tribe, who inhabited the area seasonally. Animals like black bears, beavers, wolves, and foxes roamed the landscape, while today the primary creatures spotted are horseshoe crabs that wash ashore to lay eggs each May and June, coinciding with the lunar cycle and river tides. A springtime walk through the southern regions of the park reveals monarch butterflies flitting around the park’s ‘South Pole’ landmark.