The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge fills the sky over this part of Staten Island. Concord is a residential neighbourhood on the island's eastern side, a few streets back from the water and just inland from the bridge, a quiet mix of detached houses, small apartment blocks, churches and corner shops. When the bridge opened in 1964 it was the longest suspension span in the world, and it changed Staten Island forever, linking it by road to Brooklyn and turning a semi-rural borough into a commuter suburb almost overnight.
Close by, at the foot of the bridge, Fort Wadsworth has guarded the Narrows, the entrance to New York Harbor, since colonial times, and its stone batteries and grassy ramparts offer one of the best views anywhere of the bridge, the harbour and the towers of Lower Manhattan beyond. In neighbouring Rosebank, the Alice Austen House, a small cottage on the water, was home to one of America's first notable women photographers, and her pictures of nineteenth-century New York life are displayed inside.
Riding onto Staten Island means tolls and traffic. The Verrazzano charges a steep toll in one direction, and the Staten Island Expressway can be slow at almost any hour. Local streets are a mix of smooth tarmac, patches and potholes, with buses, delivery trucks and double-parked cars. For the scenic way in, Hylan Boulevard and the roads along the eastern shore pass beaches, boardwalks and old waterfront houses.
Concord has fuel, delis and pizza places, and Staten Island is justly proud of its pizza and Italian bakeries. If you have time, ride a few minutes north to St. George and take the free Staten Island Ferry across the harbour on foot, past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island to Lower Manhattan, then back. It is one of the best free experiences in the city.
You arrive here after the Hudson Highlands, where the river cuts through the mountains past Storm King and Bear Mountain, and the contrast is satisfying: from steep forested gorges to the mouth of the same river opening into the sea, with the great bridge striding across it.