Tending to the Island’s artistic past
A recent New York Times piece features a valuable piece of NYC Parks property: the Alice Austen House, a National Historic Monument located in the Rosebank section of Staten Island. Accompanying the story is an audio slide show narrated by caretaker and curator Paul Moakley, a freelance photo editor and photographer who maintains the house, museum and grounds in exchange for free accommodation in the house’s upstairs apartment. Alice Austen was one of America’s earliest photographers, known for her work documenting working people in New York City, where she travelled by bicycle toting her heavy equipment. She lived for most of her life in this gothic-style house, also known as Clear Comfort, on the banks of the New York Bay. The house and the grounds are open to visitors.
