Redoubt and prospect; Changing views of a New York City headland. A cultural landscape report for Battery Weed, Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, New York

This thesis is based on a methodological framework developed by the National Park Service for use as a Cultural Landscape Report. The landscape of Battery Weed overlooking the entrance to New York Harbor has a history of military development and use beginning during the American Revolution when the site was farmland. The landscape, with its panoramic views of New York Bay became a popular site for public recreational use from the nineteenth century on, to its present status as a part of Gateway National Recreation Area. Based on analysis of research of primary and secondary sources, the thesis explores changes in form, character, and meaning of the landscape of Battery Weed over time through a study of cultural and natural forces and contexts that influenced the development of the site.