New York: South Street Seaport

by Gary Bembridge · April 12, 2012

The South Street Seaport

Links:
The official South Street Seaport Website
South Street Seaport on Wikipedia

The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to theFinancial District. The Seaport is a designated historic district, distinct from the neighboring Financial District. It features some of the oldest architecture in downtown Manhattan, and includes the largest concentration of restored early 19th-century commercial buildings in the city. This includes renovated original mercantile buildings, renovated sailing ships, the former Fulton Fish Market, and modern tourist malls featuring food, shopping and nightlife, with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. At the entrance to the Seaport is the Titanic Memorial lighthouse.

South Street Seaport Museum was founded in 1967 by Peter and Norma Stanford. When originally opened as a museum, the focus of the Seaport Museum conservation was to be an educational historic site, with “shops” mostly operating as reproductions of working environments found during the Seaport’s heyday, 1820 to 1860.

Designated by Congress in 1998 as one of several museums, which together make up “America’s National Maritime Museum“, South Street Seaport Museum sits in a 12 square-block historic district that is the site of the original port of New York City.^[2] The Museum has over 30,000 square feet (2,800 m²) of exhibition space and educational facilities. It houses exhibition galleries, a working 19th-century print shop, an archeology museum, a maritime library, a craft center, a marine life conservation lab, and the largest privately owned fleet of historic ships in the country. Included in this fleet are:

Peking, a 1911, four-masted barque³
Wavertree, an 1885, fully rigged cargo ship³
Pioneer, an 1885 schooner¹ ³
Lettie G. Howard, an 1893 schooner¹ ²
Ambrose, a 1908 lightship²
Helen McAllister, a 1900 tugboat
W.O. Decker, a 1930 tugboat¹ ³
Marion M., a 1932 chandlery lighter

¹ During favorable weather, these vessels take the public out into New York City’s waterways.

² These vessels have been designated National Historic Landmarks by the National Park Service.

³ These vessels have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service.

The original intent of the Seaport development was the preservation of the block of buildings known as Schermerhorn Row on the southwest side of Fulton Street, which were threatened with neglect or future development, at a time when the history of New York City’s sailing ship industry was not valued, except by someantiquarians. Early historic preservation efforts focused on these buildings and the acquisition of several sailing ships.

The Seaport and Pier 17 have a rich and diverse history as profound to New York City as Wall Street, Central Park or Times Square. This cultural marketplace along the dynamic Lower Manhattan waterfront is a gateway to the harbor. The neighborhood offers attractions, shops and restaurants for every taste. Diverse year-round events are easily accessible by subway, car, ferry or bus. Concerts, street performers, boating, bike rentals, a farmers market, summer beach and winter celebrations abound.