70 Satterlee St
Staten Island NY 10307
70 Satterlee St
Staten Island NY 10307
My formal name is D. Charles Petersen. (With an “EN” not an “ON”). To most I am just Chuck Petersen. I was born in 1940. My father was...
Tracing the Ownership
My understanding of ownership of The Biddle House was that it remained in the Biddle family until the death of his widow in 1904. It was then sold to George T. Brewster, a sculpture who lived there until his death in 1933. Although I have found no solid evidence of the story, I had been told that a silent movie entitled...
Our Neighbors
It took a while to get to know our neighbors. Our next door neighbor was Miss. Lindsay. She lived in the old house just alongside of our house. Her home had once been an old tavern. It had ceased to be a tavern many years before I was born but the posts on its front porch were still painted with beer logos and other advertising...
My Hobbies
I had several hobbies while growing up at our home in addition to fishing and swimming. They included collecting turtles and collecting bird nests. I don’t know how I got started collecting box turtles. Maybe it was because I would occasionally see a stray turtle slowly crossing our road. I’d feel compelled to move it the nearest wooded area rather than have it risk...
Making Money
As a youth there were several things I did to earn spending money. I made money by muskrat trapping, crabbing, shoveling snow, caddying and collecting scrap metal. At the time I was collecting scrap metal, iron was selling for $.01 per pound and scrap copper was selling for about $.32 per pound. To collect scrap iron I would comb...
Our Boat
My dad thought it might be a good idea to have a small fishing boat. We were right on the water and could moor it out in front of our home. He bought a used, but serviceable, inboard boat which had a cabin and even a small toilet under the front deck. I don’t remember anyone ever using the toilet. We had a small...
Joining the Navy and Coming Back Home
In 1958 I graduated High School and joined the Navy, signing up before I was 18. I had enlisted in a program where I would be sent to a trade school for training and then be given an honorable discharge the day before I became 21. It seemed like a good opportunity at the time.While in the Navy it became apparent to me that a college degree in business...
Moving On
In 1963 I married my wife Carole who I met at Wagner College. As our family grew it was always a treat for our children and ourselves to visit...
An African American community of families settled in the Tottenville area as early as 1830, but it was not until 2009 that their story came to light. In Chapter 3 of Tottenville, the Town the Oyster Built, Barnett Shepherd introduces the Cooley family — Philip and Eliza Cooley, African Americans from Gloucester County, Virginia — as follows: One of the early families to settle in the emerging town of Tottenville was that of Philip and...
Second and Third Generations
After Philip Cooley’s death in 1832, his wife, Eliza, continued to raise their children and live in Tottenville until her death in 1884. Baylor, Philip’s brother, had purchased two acres on the west side of today’s Page Avenue and engaged in farming. By 1855, he reportedly owned 11 “improved acres.” He grew grain as well as vegetable crops...
Preserving them one window at a time
The room is spacious with tall ceilings, wooden floors, and large, six-over-six sash windows that offer a sweeping view of Satterlee St. and...
Frederick Wilkens owned and operated a grocery store and hotel, and later a resort known as Oriental Park at the...
Our Tottenville High School class of 1967 was celebrating their 50th class reunion; we decided to hold a two-day affair on...
Some of my happiest childhood memories that I still treasure today come from my elementary school days at P.S. 1 in Tottenville (1961-1967). But it isn't the after-school programs, the...
By 1909, the transition from horse to automobile for travel was well under way and road tours across America were becoming...
Oh, does this image bring back memories! Summertime. Hanging out at "The Point." In the 1970s "the Point" was the end of...
The Hadkins Bottling Co., also known as the Hadkins Beverage Co., was founded in Perth Amboy, NJ in 1863 and later moved to Tottenville. Today, Bocce Court, off...
Mrs. Mary Davies Wilburn, 104, the oldest- known living survivor of the Titanic disaster, died on July 29, 1987 at the Community General Hospital in...
