Located on the south shore of Staten Island, Wolfe's Pond Park is a parcel of farmland formerly owned by Joel Wolfe, who farmed the land until 1857. The parcel contains a freshwater pond situated only about 100 yards away from the Atlantic Ocean. In 1929, the Wolfe estate sold the parcel to the city of New York.

A RICHMOND PARKWAY SPUR: In its 1941 master plan, the New York City Planning Department proposed the Wolfe's Pond Parkway, a one-mile-long parkway connecting the Richmond Parkway with Wolfe's Pond Park. These plans had the parkway spur connecting with the Shore Front Drive, a shorefront recreational parkway proposed by Robert Moses.

Evidence of the proposed Wolfe's Pond Parkway trumpet interchange can be found on the Korean War Veterans Parkway between Foster Road and Huguenot Avenue. At this location, there are extra-wide grassed areas between the parkway right-of-way and the service roads. There are also raised embankments ("dirt ramps") visible from the southbound lanes of the Korean War Veterans Parkway, which would have been used to access the Wolfe's Pond Parkway.

However, location reports for the Shore Front Drive (published in 1962) and the Korean War Veterans (Richmond) Parkway (published in 1966) make no mention of the Wolfe's Pond Parkway. The Shore Front Drive would have been used to access Wolfe's Pond Park, obviating the need for the Wolfe's Pond Parkway. Still, the route remained as a dotted line on maps through the early 1970's.

With the cancellation of this spur route, Staten Island borough president Guy Molinari has considered moving the protective fences along the service roads of the Korean War Veterans Parkway closer to the parkway mainline. This action has been proposed to improve access to the open space that would have been used for the interchange.

This early 1970's map shows the Korean War Veterans (Richmond) Parkway, which was nearing completion at the time, the proposed (but never built) Wolfe's Pond Parkway, and a proposed trumpet interchange between the two parkways. (Hagstrom map supplied by Hank Eisenstein.)

SOURCES: "Master Plan: Express Highways, Parkways and Major Streets," New York City Planning Commission (1941); "Shore Front Drive," New York State Council of Parks (1962); "Richmond Parkway Location Report," New York City Department of Highways (1966); Hank Eisenstein, Kevin Walsh; David Zarkewicz.

  • Wolfe's Pond Parkway shield by Ralph Herman.
  • Lightpost by Jeff Saltzman.
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