Quarantined in the Promised Land: Honoring the Living and the Dead at the Staten Island Marine Hospital
Author(s): Sara F. Mascia
Year: 2018
Summary
Historical Perspectives, Inc. completed a large, multi-year study of the Northern Cemetery of the Staten Island Quarantine Grounds. The archaeological team located and excavated a portion of the cemetery, which was utilized for the burial of patients from the Marine Hospital in the 1840s and 1850s. The individuals buried here were mostly immigrants who died in sight of the United States, which they hoped would provide them with a new life. The narrative of the patients at the Marine Hospital provides a compelling glimpse of the hopelessness experienced by everyone locked within the large walls of the Quarantine Grounds. In 1858 residents of Staten Island burned the hospital buildings to the ground in an attempt to rid the community of the Quarantine and the thousands of immigrants who passed through it’s gates. A memorial garden is now present in the location of the remaining cemetery to honor these "lost souls."
Cite this Record
Quarantined in the Promised Land: Honoring the Living and the Dead at the Staten Island Marine Hospital. Sara F. Mascia. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2018 ( tDAR id: 441391)
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
General
Cemetery
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Quarantine Grounds
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Staten Island
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
Mid-19th Century
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 874