Updated: Mar. 05, 2026, 9:53 a.m. | Published: Mar. 05, 2026, 5:50 a.m.
Sandy Ground is the nation’s oldest free Black settlement continuously inhabited by descendants. Advance Local Express Desk
EDITOR’S NOTE
This story is part of an ongoing journalistic initiative to rally the community and the country around a critical, but endangered, historical site: Sandy Ground, the nation’s oldest free Black settlement still inhabited by descendants of its pioneers.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Janise Laboard-Casimir vividly remembers brimming with excitement when her class at PS 30 in Westerleigh took a trip to Historic Richmond Town. The staff in period garb showed wide-eyed children how their ancestors churned butter and lived in a time before homes were equipped with electricity and running water.
Since then, she dreamed the hometown of her ancestors, Sandy Ground, could become a historic village where school children could visit and learn of its history as the nation’s oldest free Black settlement continuously inhabited by descendants.
“I almost think it’s a full circle moment, because I remember being fascinated on my school trip, but I didn’t really understand the gravity of it,” said the Sandy Ground descendant, and Rossville AME Zion Church historian. “I have always envisioned Sandy Ground just like Richmond Town with people walking around in period clothing and talking about what life was like in the community in the 1800s.”
Jessica Phillips, CEO of Historic Richmond Town believes Laboard-Casimir’s dream can become reality. In fact, she imagines Sandy Ground becoming a living-history open-air museum similar to Historic Richmond Town, but with an important difference: Sandy Ground is already an authentic historic community — not a recreated one.
“They have an incredible historical asset, not just the properties, but the story… a lot of similar places to Historic Richmond Town are imagined communities… Sandy Ground is a real place,” said Phillips, noting Richmond Town was established in 1958 as a partnership between the Staten Island Historical Society and New York City. It grew into a 100‑acre museum village containing original and relocated structures from the 17th to early 20th centuries.
“Sandy Ground is in the actual site, and they still have some buildings…Sandy Ground isn’t a place of the past… it’s today,” she said.
Sandy Ground’s Historic Significance
The idea of Sandy Ground becoming a historic village is not a new one. The community already holds a national designation as the Sandy Ground Archeological District, and it appears on the National Register of Historic Places.
Over the last two centuries Sandy Ground has shrunk in size, but descendants of the community continue to worship at its hub: the Rossville AME Zion Church.
Settled in the 1820s, Sandy Ground is the third recorded community in New York where African Americans owned land, according to the city Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Moses K. and Silas K. Harris, two brothers from New Jersey, initially came to the area to work as gardeners in the 1820s. In the 1850s African American oystermen from Maryland became attracted to the area because of the abundant oyster beds of the Raritan Bay. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the community became self-sufficient and thrived as it housed a range of professionals and tradesmen, from blacksmiths and store owners to teachers and midwives. Soon, Sandy Ground became a community where African Americans found prosperity and freedom from persecution.
Today, Sandy Ground is tucked away amid dense housing and paved roadways that serve as a main bus route for two public schools. But, if you look closely while driving along Woodrow or Bloomingdale roads, you can see the remaining homes and landmarked structures in Sandy Ground that still exist today.
There are several properties in the community designated New York City landmarks: two tan clapboard Baymen’s cottages on Bloomingdale Road, which are more than 120-year-old homes once owned by the prosperous oystermen who settled in the community in the 1850s; the AME Zion Church on Bloomingdale Road; the Rev. Isaac Coleman and Rebecca Gray Coleman home at 1482 Woodrow Rd.; and the Rossville AME Zion Church Cemetery on Crabtree Avenue — a peaceful respite where both weathered and newer headstones tell the story of the community’s pioneers who once lived, worked and thrived there.
In its fight to preserve the history, members of the AME Zion Church are fundraising to make physical improvements to the church and other landmarked properties and structures.
The Sandy Ground Historical Society has a museum on Woodrow Road, which for many years welcomed school children and tourists alike. But it is currently closed and in a state of disrepair.
The oldest home
Yvette Taylor-Jordan, a Sandy Ground descendant and member of AME Zion Church shares Laboard-Casimir‘s dream of Sandy Ground becoming a tourist destination. Her family still owns her great-grandparents’ mid‑19th‑century vernacular frame home at 1482 Woodrow Rd., now a New York City landmark. It entered their lineage through her ancestor Rebecca Gray, who first married Rev. Isaac Coleman and later, after his death, married Robert Landin. Her great-grandmother — also named Rebecca, known as Rebecca Gray Landin — lived in the house for decades. The home later became a rooming house in the mid-1800s.
The Reverend Isaac Coleman and Rebecca Gray Coleman House is believed to be one of the oldest surviving structures of Sandy Ground.
Taylor-Jordan would love to see her family home become an integral part of a larger effort to transform Sandy Ground into an educational historic village, where visitors can learn directly from the descendants.
“I can envision where people are coming and visiting [her family home as well as other structures in Sandy Ground] and getting a lot of education… and we can have several interactive lessons and people there,“ she said. ”They would learn from folks who have lived there, who can explain their own experience.”
A vision for preservation
The Baymen’s cottages, owned by the church, could be restored — one as a period house, staged as though its inhabitants still live there, said Phillips. The other Baymen’s cottage could be converted into a museum/gallery space, with exhibitions, school programming and room to display historic materials, suggested Phillips.
She said the site could offer walking tours or reconstructed demonstrations — similar to the immersive experiences at Historic Richmond Town.
“They [visitors] go to a Welcome Center… someone greets them… shows them artifacts… and then they start to go on a walk,” Phillips said. “They walk through the cottage interpreted as someone who lived on Sandy Ground — a real person.”
In addition, Phillips said there is a potential to recreate some of the history, like the Bishop Blacksmith Shop that once stood in the community.
“It would be incredible to have the blacksmith shop reconstructed… when you smell a forge… it’s a memory. That kind of immersive history kids and adults don’t forget,” said Phillips.
Such a historic village could also incorporate video, audio, interactive media, and digital storytelling to provide visitors with immersive experiences. She noted that high-tech options are becoming more feasible for small organizations.
“People want to be entertained. They want that ‘wow’ factor… that immersive experience can be done,” said Phillips. “Imagine you’re walking through a life-size family photo album.”
Phillips has also offered her expertise to the Sandy Ground members and assistance in applying for grants.
Could this really happen?
The 1897 building that houses the Rossville AME Zion Church urgently needs preservation support to repair its aging sanctuary, care for its two historic cemeteries and restore the fragile Bayman’s Houses. With only 35 members, the congregation has pushed itself to the limit through grassroots fundraising and unwavering faith, but the scale of the repairs required for these landmarked structures far exceeds what they can manage alone.
The church now needs sustained funding, professional preservation expertise, and broader community partnership to protect its buildings, burial grounds and living history for generations to come.
How to help
Community members and preservation advocates can help the members of Rossville AME Zion Church. The group has initiated fundraising efforts to benefit repair of the landmarked structures in the community. To donate or volunteer, visit: rossvilleamezionny.org/giving.
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