[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 159 (Thursday, October 29, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    HONORING THE SANDY GROUND HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOR THEIR CULTURAL 
                CONTRIBUTIONS TO STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. MICHAEL E. McMAHON

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 29, 2009

  Mr. McMAHON. Madam Speaker, I would like to honor the Sandy Ground 
community in Staten Island, New York. It is the oldest community 
established by free slaves in North America, and still thrives today.
   After slavery was abolished in the State of New York in 1827, 
freedmen from all over the state, as well as far away as Maryland and 
Virginia, settled in the area known since colonial times as Sandy 
Ground, which was located in the area around what is now the 
intersection of Bloomingdale and Woodrow Roads in Rossville.
   These early settlers were also skilled in the oyster trade, and 
brought this knowledge with them to Staten Island. Oyster harvesting 
was a major business on Staten Island during the 19th Century and was 
conducted mainly on the island's south shore. Sandy Ground also served 
as an important stop on the Underground Railroad, and is the oldest 
continuously settled free black community in the United States.
   The Sandy Ground Historical Society, which preserves the history and 
physical surroundings of the Sandy Ground community and maintains a 
museum and library, was organized on February 28, 1980. The Museum and 
library contain letters, photographs, film, art, rare books, quilts and 
other archaeological artifacts. The Museum also possesses a rare 
surviving can of Tettersalve, a beauty product manufactured by Harlem 
businesswoman Madame C. J. Walker, and a letter from W.E.B. DuBois.
   The museum also sponsors arts-and-crafts sessions, a musical 
heritage series, a lecture series presented in Staten Island schools 
and churches, and a traveling lecture series to institutions around the 
country. The African-American quilt-making tradition is also continued 
through quilting workshops.
   The Sandy Ground Historical Society has graciously lent us a quilt 
that we have hung proudly above the entryway to my personal office in 
Washington. The quilt depicts the history of strawberry farming on the 
land, which starts with two brothers named Moses and Silas Harris. They 
bought property circa 1850 in what is now Sandy Ground, with the 
intention of farming on it. Upon inspection of the land, they noted 
that the soil was sandy, but they found a plant that grew well in sandy 
soil: strawberries. They became so successful at growing strawberries 
that the town was first called ``Harrisville,'' which later became 
Sandy Ground. Today there is a street in the Sandy Ground community 
called Harris Lane, named after the Harris Brothers. Wild strawberries 
still grow on the few open plots of land that are left in the area.
   Sandy Ground is an important historical landmark, an asset to Staten 
Island, and an asset to the United States of America.

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