Special Hillsides Preservation District

The Serpentine Ridge Nature Preserve is a 40 acres woodland in the North Shore of Staten Island between Howard Avenue at the top of the ridge and Van Duzer Street at the bottom of the hill. The Serpentine Ridge plays an important part in Staten Island's ecosystem and biodiversity and maintains significant geological features. The Serpentine Ridge is a steep terrain on the east shore of the island within the Grymes Hill and Silver Lake neighborhoods of Staten Island. The area is notable for its variety of ecosystems including wooded hillsides, glacial sinkholes, and bare serpentine rock. The area is part of Staten Island's Special Hillsides Preservation District. The district was established to preserve the hilly terrain and unique natural features of the region, by reducing hillside erosion, landslides, and excessive storm-water runoff. Most of its land remains in a natural state, thus the area is covered with native vegetation. The Serpentine Art and Nature Commons owns approximately 11.5 acres of land within the area and acts as an environmental steward to the entire area.

The Staten Island Serpentinite locality is a southward extension of the New England Uplands, adjacent to the Manhattan Prong. It includes Todt Hill on Staten Island, which is the highest point along the Atlantic Seaboard south of Maine, at 410 feet (120 m) above sea level. "Todt" is a Dutch word meaning "dead." This hill perhaps received its name from the Dutch settlers because the hilltops overlooking The Narrows consisted of scattered treeless rocky exposures. The chemical character of the bedrock was, in part, the reason for this. Much of Staten Island is covered by the Harbor Hill moraine, the terminal moraine of the last Wisconsin Stage glacier. However, ledges of bedrock consisting of serpentinite are exposed throughout the upland areas on Staten Island. Grymes Hill, the second highest point on Staten Island and just a few miles from Todt Hill has similar bedrock characteristics. Serpentine, the dominant mineral in serpentinite, is rich in magnesium, an element that most plants cannot tolerate in high concentrations. The enrichment of magnesium in the thin serpentine soil covering the glacier-scoured hilltops is probably responsible for the original barren exposures on Todt Hill. The serpentinite has a bluish to greenish gray color, and consists of serpentine (mostly the variety antigorite), with accessory minerals of chrysotile (a form of asbestos), magnetite, and talc. Serpentinite is derived by the metamorphism of ultramafic rocks (rocks rich in the minerals olivine and pyroxene) in a water-rich environment. The probable original setting for these rocks was within the igneous crust beneath the Iapetus Ocean. The occurrence of serpentinite in the core of Staten Island is an indication that the allochthonous basement rocks consisting of oceanic crustal material were thrust landward onto the eastern margin of the continent during the Taconic orogeny. The occurrence of serpentinite is consistent with the interpretation that Staten Island is east of Cameron's Line. This article incorporates public domain material from Staten Island Serpentinite. United States Geological Survey.

Notre Dame College was a small Catholic women's college located in the Grymes Hill area of Staten Island, New York. It opened in 1933 as an affiliate of Fordham University and merged with St. John's University in 1971.Notre Dame was located on the former estate of Herbert Gans. It opened with 13 students and graduated its first class in 1935. The alumnae association now has about 1,600 active members. The college's campus is now the Staten Island campus of St. John's. The Gans Family Estate The site of the college, now St. John's Staten Island campus, was originally purchased in the early 20th century by immigrant John Gans. He chose the Grymes Hill location for his family estate because it overlooked New York Harbor, where he operated a steamship company. The main house of the estate, a 30-room Georgian mansion, was completed in 1915 and became home to son Herbert Gans and his family.

The Gerard Carter Community Center is a facility located in Staten Island, New York. Its main basketball court is home to the Staten Island Vipers of the American Basketball Association (ABA).

Casa Belvedere is a cultural center devoted to Italian studies, located at 79 Howard Avenue, Grymes Hill, Staten Island, New York City. The mansion was constructed in 1908, and is an Italian Renaissance style building with Arts and Crafts detailing. It is a 2+1⁄2-story, stuccoed masonry structure with a 2+1⁄2-story service wing and attached conservatory. It features an overhanging clay tile hipped roof with bracketed eaves and a portico with Ionic order columns and Doric order corner piers. Also on the property is a contributing former garage.: 5, 9 Over the years it housed a number of different families, including for several years being the official residence of the President of Wagner College. It was declared a New York City Landmark in 2006 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010 as the Louis A. and Laura Stirn House. In 2008 it was purchased by Gina Biancardi and Luciano Rammaironi, and turned into a cultural center. In this role it hosts Italian language classes for both adults and children, wine tastings, lectures, films, cooking lessons, book signings, displays of Italian-made motor vehicles (e.g. Alfa Romeo, Lamborghini, and Vespa), and art exhibits, all with an Italian orientation.: 16 

The Stapleton Houses are a housing project in the Stapleton neighborhood of Staten Island, New York City. The project consists of six 8-story buildings with 693 apartment units. It covers 16.87 acres (6.83 ha) and is bordered by Tompkins Avenue, and Broad, Hill, Warren and Gordon Streets. It is owned and managed by New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and is the largest NYCHA development in Staten Island.

Notre Dame Academy is an American private Catholic girls' school in Staten Island, New York. It is located within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. As a private school, Notre Dame is not owned by the archdiocese, although it does maintain a close affiliation with the archdiocese. The school is located on a 13-acre (5.3 ha) campus on Grymes Hill in Staten Island, New York. Consisting of an elementary school (PK3 – 8) and high school (9–12), the school serves approximately 700 students.While providing an education in the Catholic tradition, the school is open to girls of all faiths.

Grymes Hill is a 374 feet (114 m) tall hill formed of serpentine rock on Staten Island, New York. It is the second highest natural point on the island and in the five boroughs of New York City. The neighborhood of the same name encompasses an area of 0.894 square miles (2.32 km2) and has a population of 8,263 people. The hill also includes parts of the Silver Lake neighborhood. The area includes part of ZIP Codes 10301 and 10304.

Stapleton Heights (or Stapleton Hill) is a neighborhood in northeastern Staten Island, New York City. It stands on the second of a series of hills that form a "backbone" running diagonally across the island from northeast to southwest, between Ward Hill (the first of the hills as they rise from Tompkinsville) and Grymes Hill; to the east is Stapleton, which is along the waterfront. It is an upper-middle-class enclave noted for its large older one-family homes, and for its view of Upper New York Bay and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Many of the grander homes of the neighborhood were constructed in the late 19th century by the families who controlled the industries along the waterfront, including the breweries that operated there until the last one closed in 1963. One such home, on Louis Street, is allegedly "haunted," according to local residents. Stapleton Heights is served by the S52 and S78 local buses.

The Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 10 Austin Place, Staten Island, New York City.

Silver Mount Cemetery is located at 918 Victory Boulevard on Staten Island, New York, United States. It was originally named Cooper Cemetery around 1866. It covers about 17 acres.

Silver Lake is the name of both a reservoir and an adjacent neighborhood in the New York City borough of Staten Island.