MLK Day of Service at Conference House Park

When and Where

When: January 16, 2023
Timeline: 8:00 am — 2:00 pm

Meeting time and place: 8:00 AM / OLA parking lot

Where: Conference House Park, Staten Island, New York

Conference House Park is a great destination for both park and history buffs.  Located at the southernmost point of New York State, this park houses four historic buildings that trace the history of the borough over the course of three centuries. The Conference House, the Biddle House, the Ward House and Rutan-Beckett House all tell of a New York and an America of the past.

Registration: We will register the entire. Do not register yourself. https://www.nycgovparks.org/events/2023/01/16/mlk-day-of-service-beach-cleanup

This Monday, 1/12/2023, Troop 23 will continue the tradition of honoring the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the best way possible, by doing service to our community. The cool location and beneficiary is the beach at Conference House Park. Conference House Park is a park in Tottenville, Staten Island. 

The park is located along the Arthur Kill coast where the kill opens into Raritan Bay. It contains clay bluffs, part of the terminal moraine, formed when the Wisconsin Glacier receded 10,000 years ago. For history buffs, Conference House, a c. 1680, is a stone manor house in which a peace conference was initiated between British and American forces on September 11, 1776, in an effort to halt the American Revolution. (There is a small chance that we can get a private tour of the building.)

If you have work gloves, bring them. Pay attention to the weather and dress appropriately. 

From your Librarian

Martin Luther King day is coming up soon, and it is important to remember all that he has done for this country. It is also important to know that MLK was a Boy Scout from ages 11 to 13, in Troop 151 in Atlanta. He is an example of what we should all strive to be.

A detail that is important to remember about the place we will be volunteering at on Monday is that it is near an area known as Burial Ridge, a Lenape burial ground. 20 acres of the park is a designated archaeological site named Aakawaxung Munahanung which means “Island Protected from the Wind”.

It is important to be reverent to the people who paved the way for our success.

Historian's notes