yo Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



recent years or have been cut down, and fires have destroyed 

 nearly all of the underbrush; but even now the entrance is not 

 conspicuous and would be likely to escape the attention of any 

 casual observer a short distance away. 



It has been a matter of surprise to me to learn that so many of 

 our residents are apparently unaware of its existence, and as it is 

 almost certain to be destroyed before very long I have thought it 

 advisable that the attention of our members should be called to it 

 and an illustrated record be prepared for our Proceedings. 



At the meeting of the Association on October lo, 1903, Mr. 

 William T. Davis read a paper on Staten Island Caves,- in which 

 he says "this cave is not a natural one; but according to local 

 history it and some other holes in the hillside were dug, shortly 

 after the Revolution, by Housman and his negro servant in their 

 search for gold." What Housman's given name may have been I 

 have not been able to find any record. Clute, in his Annals of 

 Staten Island (p. 121), refers to him as "a young man named 

 Housman [who] resided in the vicintiy of the Four Corners," 

 and says (p. 122): "This same Housman, in after years, con- 

 ceived the idea that there was great mineral wealth in the hills 

 about the Four Corners, and with the aid of a negro commenced 

 mining operations in the side of the hill, in what is called ' Don- 

 gan's wood ' . . . the excavation which he made in the solid rock 

 . . . may be seen at the present day." Anthon's notes on the 

 history of Staten Island, according to information kindly fur- 

 nished me by Mr. C. G. Hine, likewise contain merely a very 

 vague reference. Mr. Hine's memorandum is as follows : " All 

 Anthon says is ' on the property lately belonging tO' Walter 

 Dongan is a cave. The grandfather of the present Housman 

 dug it to get gold after a dream.' That is all he has to say. At 

 another point he speaks of talking with Isaac Housman who, I 

 think, was living in the Black Horse Tavern at the time (1853). 

 This may be ' the present Housman ' ; but this is a mere guess." 

 That is all that I have been able to ascertain in regard to the 

 origin of the cave. 



2 Proc. Staten Is. Assoc. 8 : 67. October 10, 1903. 



