Staten Island Restaurant Tour, Part XXV: Big Nose Kate’s Saloon (Rossville)

Beware of forklifts.

Forbidden fruit is the sweetest kind. Above is the Witte Marine Scrapyard, a collection of rusting boats. I’ll tell you how I got thrown out of it in a moment. The South Shore town-turned-neighborhood Rossville was formerly known as Old Blazing Star — named, like Bulls Head, for a long-gone tavern. It became Rossville after Col. William E. Ross built a replica of Windsor Castle called Lyon Castle. No trace of it was left along the shoreline. Nor was the Blazing Star Ferry, which ran across Arthur Kill to Middlesex County, New Jersey where I grew up. So Rossville — like nearby Tottenville, where the Tour started — has a link to my childhood of which I was unaware until now.

Lyon Castle, a.k.a. Ross Castle. Courtesy of NYPL Digital Collections.

Below is St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, founded 1848. Of the two historic churches in Rossville, this one was nearer my lunchtime destination. Since my trip to Rossville turned out to be an arduous walk, concentrating on the northern part was the right call.

On the way to lunch.

The other notable church is Rossville AME Zion (built 1897 though its cemetery dates from 1852). Rossville includes Sandy Ground, a stop on the Underground Railroad and one of the oldest African American settlements in the United States. See AME Zion’s website and Facebook page.

Rossville AME Zion Church. Courtesy Staten Island Historical Society.

The first black families settled here in 1827 after slaves were freed in New York State. Devastating brush fires, the worst of them in 1963, and the West Shore Expressway, completed in 1976, transformed the area as the developers rolled in with two-family house and condo development. Only a few of the historic structures (see Wiki) and the original inhabitants remain.

Two-family, two-story, two-tone.

The atmosphere of modern-day Rossville was not unpleasant. Residential architecture was on a more modest scale, the streets were Staten Island quiet, and cherry blossoms festooned the sidewalks as I explored in early May.

In cherry condition.

St Luke’s Rossville Cemetery is maintained by the local Episcopal church.

Or Anglican, if you like.

It has a nice slice of real estate near the water, along pedestrian-unfriendly Arthur Kill Road, so it was logical to stop there on my way to the restaurant, also on the water.

The pano shot that didn’t get away.

The oldest tombstones inevitably were not the most legible but here is one dating from 1868 (center).

Weathered by time and the elements.

Kate’s hoved into view, a welcome and welcoming sight, but the sightseeing was not quite over yet.

I had a hot date here with a chimichanga. Eventually.

This is a Google Earth shot of what Google Maps identifies as the Staten Island Boat Graveyard, though its official names are the Witte Marine Scrapyard and, according to a sign, the Donjon Iron and Metal Scrap Processing Facility. A late owner wanted to turn it into a tourist attraction, but lack of resources, the remote location, and probably the lack of a promotional campaign doomed the enterprise.

Courtesy of Google Earth.

I walked through the corrugated-metal gate, which offered no barriers or signs suggesting otherwise, and managed to take shots looking to the left (top pic), center, right, and farther right (below). I’d have managed a sweeping panorama if I had not been asked to leave.

Entrance to Witte Marine Scrapyard, a.k.a. Donjon whatever.

Center shot: “Danger. Forklift traffic.” Originally there were about 400 ships here, including two World War II subs, though the collection has dwindled to a few dozen. Presumably the forklifts have been busy.

Be alert. I was.

Looking to the right. The boats are rustier in my shots than in some posted to Google Maps. Staten Island’s second weirdest tourist attraction (after Fresh Kills Landfill a.k.a. Freshkills Park) has been closed to visitors for years and soon will be no more, even in its current unofficial sense.

Going, going...

Last shot. At this point I was politely ejected. One more, I pleaded? No. There were no forklifts around at that moment but perhaps safety and legal liability trumped hospitality. I felt fortunate to have captured this oxidizing moment in time.

Oh, for a panorama of this and the above.

I was told there was a “walkway.” Hazardous walking conditions were plentiful on nearby streets but walkways were in short supply. I did find a small flight of steps leading to views of water and graves, aquatic and human, at the Blazing Star Cemetery. If I were choosing a resting place on the basis of name alone, this would be it.

Pedestrian non sequitur: access from, but not on, the street.

The crumbling facility dates from “about 1750,” according to Friends of Abandoned Cemeteries, which befriends the homes of the dead.

With the help of local donors.

Eternal peace alongside Arthur Kill Road. I wouldn’t mind being laid (or at least scattered) to rest here. Nobody would bother me in such an isolated location. People not bothering me is a prospect that appeals.

Islanders at leisure.

Here is a marker dating from 1817, the oldest one I found.

The date is in the lower right corner.

The site afforded views of boat graves looking over a grassier slice of shoreline than I’d had in the scrapyard. I was not able to move any closer as the ground was sloping down beyond this point.

Peaceful view, perched on a hillside.

Here are a few more rusting hunks.

Three at center and right.

I empathized with them, being a rusting hunk myself.

Closer view.

Rust never sleeps. Horseshoes embedded in steps to up to the front door at Big Nose Kate’s Saloon.

One per step.

The view from my table included references to FDNY, NYPD (the “blue lives matter” flag), and MIA POWs (“you are not forgotten”). Presumably the guys eat and drink here on evenings and weekends. I came on a quiet weekday, as I usually do, and had the place to myself.

I like eating in empty restaurants.

The back of the menu offered a history lesson on Big Nose Kate: “prostitute, dance hall girl, boarding house owner, baker.” Her common-law husband was Doc Holliday, who participated with Wyatt Earp in the Shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona (where there is another Big Nose Kate’s). Doc Holliday was a gunfighter, a gambler — and a dentist. That is the part that worries me.

She got around.

In addition to Freedom Fries, a vogue among conservatives after the French government refused to support the second U.S. invasion of Iraq, the menu featured tributes to a couple of New York politicians, Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio.

But which Cuomo?

I asked if the Cuomo referred to was Mario or Andrew. I was directed to the decal on the window next to my seat. There was Andrew peeping in at me. “That’s OK,” I said. “He was an asshole.”

You again.

Kate’s menu features Tex-Mex cuisine. I went for the chicken chimichanga. The menu said it came with beans and rice, but having asked about the fries before ordering, I was graciously treated to a substitution of F$ck Cuomo Fries. Or perhaps they were Freedom Fries. Either way, they were golden and delicious.

Best fries on the Tour so far.

The chimi, with tasty stewed chicken, was ready for its closeup. Chimi, are you experienced? Have you ever been experienced?

That was a Chimi Hendrix reference.

The fries were not only salted but seasoned with what might have been a dash of black pepper. They were crunchy and chewy but never soggy. I approved heartily and ate most of them with my fingers. Knife and fork for chimi, though.

Seasoning for fries — good idea.

I just missed the S74 bus by maybe 30 seconds and waited maybe 30 minutes for the next one, getting a monster sunburn that still lingered on my neck days later as I wrote this. Always a bummer when you see the bus you need to catch pulling away. And there’s nothing clean to sit on.

With trains, I’d have had a place to sit and wait.

But the ride home took me on a sentimental journey back up Richmond Road, through the South and East shores, the first neighborhoods I explored on the Tour. It was a far more pleasant trip than the bumpier ride across Victory Boulevard and I just might hazard it again. There’s a diner on the other side of the neighborhood, near AME Zion, and I may have unfinished business in Rossville.

S74 riders on Richmond Road.

Previously on the Staten Island Restaurant Tour:

Part I: Angelina’s (Tottenville)

Part II: Fina’s Farmhouse (Arthur Kill)

Part III: Laila (Richmond Valley)

Part IV: Il Forno (Pleasant Plains)

Part V: Breaking Bread (Prince’s Bay)

Part VI: Woodrow Diner (Huguenot)

Part VII: Il Sogno (Annadale)

Part VIII: Riva (Eltingville)

Part IX: Marina Cafe (Great Kills)

Part X: Do Eat (Bay Terrace)

Part XI: Canlon’s (Oakwood Heights)

Part XII: Prince Tea House (New Dorp)

Part XIII: Inca’s Peruvian Grille (Grant City)

Part XIV: Colonnade Diner (Jefferson Avenue)

Part XV: Baci (Dongan Hills)

Part XVI: Chinar on the Island (Old Town)

Part XVII: Cinco de Mayo (Grasmere)

Part XVIII: Phil-Am Kusina (Clifton)

Part XIX: Lakruwana (Stapleton)

Part XX: Pier 76 (Tompkinsville)

Part XXI: Chang Noi Thai (St. George)

Part XXII: Mike’s Unicorn Diner (Bulls Head)

Part XXIII: Melt Shop (New Springville)

Part XXIV: Da Noi (Travis)

If you’re enjoying the Staten Island Restaurant Tour, please follow my blog by clicking follow next to my name at the top. Then subscribe to get emails on new episodes. You can also subscribe to the SIRT channel on YouTube. For offline reading, the first 21 episodes of the SIRT are available as an ebook. See you soon!