Stone Street
نيويورك
Stone Street is a crooked little street in the heart of the Financial District, in Manhattan. Its first stretch was the first paved street in New Amsterdam. Around it survives a corner of low buildings from the 1800s.
A street between river and marsh
In Dutch times the street was made of two parts. The part near here was called Hoogh Straet. It ran along a raised strip of land, with the river on one side and a marsh on the other.
The first street of stone
In 1658 the first stretch, the one toward Whitehall Street, became the first paved street in New Amsterdam. In 1794 the two parts were joined under the name they still have: Stone Street, the street of stone.
The stones you see today are not the ones from 1658. They are squared blocks of stone laid in rows, and the old roadbed is buried underneath.
What to see from outside
The buildings were put up after 1835 as shops and warehouses. On the ground floor they have smooth granite pillars, with two or three steps in front of the doors. On the upper floors the windows are simple and evenly spaced.
Today this corner is protected as a historic district. The narrow lanes are part of the original plan of the Dutch town. Stop for a moment and look up: the glass skyscrapers seem to lean over the low buildings. In just a few dozen meters you travel from the 1600s to the present day.
