TODT HILL
Geographic Setting
Commanding the very summit of Staten Island—and indeed, the highest natural elevation in all of New York City—Todt Hill rises to an impressive 410 feet above sea level. The neighborhood stretches roughly from Ocean Terrace and Richmond Road in the north to Four Corners Road and Amboy Road in the south, with Todhunter Avenue, Todt Hill Road, and Bard Avenue winding upward through forested slopes and open lawns. To the west lie the green expanses of LaTourette Park and the Staten Island Greenbelt, while to the east, the land drops dramatically toward Grasmere and Dongan Hills, offering sweeping views of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, Lower New York Bay, and the distant Manhattan skyline.
Todt Hill’s terrain is unlike anywhere else in the five boroughs—a series of wooded ridges, glacial boulders, and winding lanes that evoke the Hudson Highlands more than an urban borough. Mansions, monasteries, and mid-century modern estates hide among trees, their driveways curving through old-growth forest. The combination of elevation, seclusion, and natural beauty gives the area a singular aura—both retreat and pinnacle, rural and metropolitan.
Etymology and Origins
The name “Todt Hill” derives from the Dutch word “dood” or “tod,” meaning “dead”, likely referring not to death but to the stillness of the forested heights. The name appears in records as early as the 1600s, when Dutch settlers described the ridge as “de Doodt Heuvel”—the quiet hill. Later romantic interpretations associated the name with a burial ground or an early settlers’ cemetery on the slopes, though no definitive evidence confirms this.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the area was also known as “Emigrant Hill” and later “Todt Hill Heights,” but the original name endured, reflecting both its European roots and its haunting tranquility. Long before colonial times, the Lenape people used the ridge as a lookout and seasonal hunting ground, drawn by its panoramic views and abundant game.
The Neighborhood
18th–19th Century: Forested Frontier to Gentleman’s Estate
During the colonial era, Todt Hill remained sparsely settled and heavily wooded. Its steep slopes made it ill-suited to farming, but its elevation and relative isolation attracted landowners seeking solitude and status. In the early 1800s, prominent Staten Island families—including the Crochers, Mersereaus, and Tysons—acquired large tracts for country estates and hunting preserves.
The hill’s most famous landmark from this period was the Moravian Cemetery, established in 1740 along Richmond Road at the base of the hill. It remains Staten Island’s oldest active burial ground and one of the most historic in New York. The cemetery’s rolling terrain and monumental statuary later became the resting place of the Vanderbilt family, whose mausoleum, designed by Richard Morris Hunt in 1885, crowns a wooded knoll overlooking the island’s east shore. The Vanderbilt Mausoleum and surrounding cemetery effectively anchor Todt Hill’s northern slope in a landscape of memory and majesty.
By the late 19th century, Todt Hill had evolved into an enclave of wealth and refinement. Paved carriage roads and rustic lanes connected elegant country homes surrounded by stone walls and formal gardens. Wealthy Staten Islanders built Italianate villas and Tudor-style manors that took full advantage of the views and seclusion. Early photographs show winding driveways shaded by oaks, with sweeping lawns giving way to glimpses of the sea. Even then, Todt Hill was synonymous with privacy and prestige.
Early–Mid 20th Century: Exclusive Suburb Above the City
With the arrival of the automobile and the consolidation of Staten Island into Greater New York (1898), Todt Hill became an early model for the modern suburban ideal—spacious lots, curving roads, and proximity to both nature and Manhattan. The Todt Hill Road was improved and extended, connecting the ridge to Richmondtown and Grasmere, while smaller private lanes led to stately residences hidden in the woods.
In the 1920s–1930s, architects designed some of Staten Island’s most distinguished homes here: Georgian Revivals, English Tudors, and Mediterranean villas graced the hillside. Among them rose the St. Charles Seminary (later the St. Charles Monastery of the Passionists, founded 1920), its red-tiled roofs and chapel spires visible through the trees—a spiritual counterpart to the Vanderbilt Mausoleum below. The monastery’s contemplative presence reinforced the area’s aura of stillness and sanctuary.
By mid-century, Todt Hill had solidified its reputation as Staten Island’s most exclusive neighborhood. Its residents included judges, industrialists, clergy, and civic leaders who valued its elevation both literal and symbolic. Zoning regulations preserved its low density; no commercial corridors intruded upon its forested streets. Even as much of Staten Island suburbanized in the 1950s–1970s, Todt Hill retained its rural character, buffered by parks and the cemetery’s green expanses.
Late 20th–21st Century: Continuity, Modernization, and Conservation
The late 20th century brought architectural evolution rather than expansion. Modernist homes with flat roofs and glass facades appeared beside Tudor and Colonial manors, blending 20th-century design with the hill’s natural contours. Yet strict zoning and topographical constraints prevented overdevelopment. The creation of the Staten Island Greenbelt in the 1970s–1980s permanently safeguarded much of the surrounding woodland, ensuring that Todt Hill’s wilderness edge would endure.
New generations of homeowners invested in restoration and careful modernization. Landscaped estates with wrought-iron gates, tennis courts, and infinity pools coexist with original mansions from the early 1900s. The roads—Todt Hill Road, Ocean Terrace, and Four Corners Road—remain narrow and winding, discouraging through traffic and reinforcing the neighborhood’s secluded rhythm.
Today, Todt Hill continues to symbolize Staten Island’s summit—geographically, socially, and aesthetically. Its natural environment, dominated by towering oaks and rock outcroppings, offers ecological continuity with the adjacent Greenbelt. From the upper slopes, the view toward Manhattan at sunset—bridges, towers, and water bathed in gold—remains one of New York’s most breathtaking perspectives.
Spirit and Legacy
Todt Hill’s legacy is elevation in every sense: a place where nature, architecture, and human aspiration meet above the city’s din. Its forests have outlasted centuries of change, and its homes still echo the ideals of retreat, reflection, and refinement that drew its earliest settlers.
New York City
Use this custom Google map to explore where every neighborhood in all five boroughs of New York City is located.
The Five Boroughs
One of New York City’s unique qualities is its organization in to 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. These boroughs are part pragmatic administrative districts, and part vestiges of the region’s past. Each borough is an entire county in New York State - in fact, Brooklyn is, officially, Kings County, while Staten Island is, officially Richmond County. But that’s not the whole story …
Initially, New York City was located on the southern tip of Manhattan (now the Financial District) that was once the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. Across the East River, another city was rising: Brooklyn. In time, the city planners realized that unification between the rapidly rising cities would create commercial and industrial opportunities - through streamlined administration of the region.
So powerful was the pull of unification between New York and Brooklyn that three more counties were pulled into the unification: The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. And on January 1, 1898, the City of New York unified two cities and three counties into one Greater City of New York - containing the five boroughs we know today.
But because each borough developed differently and distinctly until unification, their neighborhoods likewise uniquely developed. Today, there are nearly 390 neighborhoods, each with their own histories, cultures, cuisines, and personalities - and each with residents who are fiercely proud of their corner of The Big Apple.
