Lemon Creek (Staten Island)

Lemon Creek emerges from a conduit under Rossville Avenue and flows into '''Porzio's Pond''', located north of the intersection of Woodrow Road and Maguire Avenue. Water from the pond reaches Lemon Creek both above ground and underground. The lower reaches of the creek, below the Staten Island Railway, are bordered by extensive marshes, the largest and most pristine on the south shore of Staten Island. This area includes both salt marsh and the only tidal freshwater marsh on Staten Island. Parks Much of the creek below Hylan Boulevard, and a long strip of shoreline to the west, is part of the Lemon Creek Park, established in 1962. The park includes the Seguine Mansion. The upper reaches of Lemon Creek, and most of Sandy Brook flow through Bloomingdale Park, . ==History==

The creek first appears in recorded history in 1670, as one of the boundaries of a 140-acre (56.7 ha) grant of land to Paulus Regrenier. The Abraham Manee Homestead may encompass Regrenier's original dwelling. Clams were once abundant at the mouth of the creek, in Prince's Bay. The oysters harvested there were once a delicacy exported to London, colony, inhabited by starlings in the winter. Known in 1830 as '''Seguine's Creek for the Seguine family, this body of water was referred to as the Little North River by 1895. Shortly thereafter, it began to be called Lemon Creek''', although the origin of the name is not known. ==Fauna==

The marshes along the lower creek provide a home for waterfowl such as swans, mallards, and black ducks, and a refuge for migrating birds, as well as monarch butterflies. In the center of the marshes on the lower creek is '''Ziel's Island, also known as Crab Island''' for the fiddler crabs and blue crabs that live there. Clams are commercially harvested off the mouth of the creek, and various marine fish can be caught from a fishing pier at the mouth of the creek. ==References==