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Staten Island

New Dorp

A 1670s 'new village' whose main street now runs from Sicilian pasta to Aegean fish and Uzbek plov.

Photo: Tdorante10 · CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

New Dorp is one of Staten Island's oldest settlements. The name is Dutch — Nieuw Dorp, the 'new village' — set against an older one nearby, and the town dates its founding to 1671, when English surveyors laid out lots along the South Shore. It briefly served as the first county seat, British officers made the Rose and Crown Tavern their headquarters during the Revolution, and the Vanderbilts, who farmed here, are buried in the Moravian Cemetery at the edge of the neighborhood.

Today New Dorp Lane is the spine: a real main street running from the Staten Island Railway station down to Hylan Boulevard, lined with pizzerias, cafés, bakeries and, increasingly, newer arrivals — Chinese noodle shops, sushi bars, a Mediterranean fish house that opened at the turn of 2025, an Uzbek kitchen from spring 2026.

A good evening here mixes old and new: dinner at a Sicilian family's white-tablecloth room near the station, or mezze and whole grilled fish down the lane, with a stop on Hylan Boulevard at a chef-run restaurant named for his mother. Beyond Hylan, Miller Field — the Vanderbilt farm turned Army airfield turned national parkland — opens onto the water.

New Dorp Lane's main-street run from the station to Hylan Boulevard

Handmade pasta and Sicilian family cooking

Newer arrivals: Aegean seafood and Uzbek plov

Vanderbilt history in the Moravian Cemetery and at Miller Field

Local notes

Moravian Cemetery

Staten Island's largest and oldest active cemetery sits on Richmond Road at the neighborhood's edge, and many members of the Vanderbilt family are buried here. It is a landscaped, hilly place for a quiet walk; be respectful of services.

Miller Field

The Vanderbilt farm became an Army airfield in the twentieth century and, in the 1970s, part of Gateway National Recreation Area. Today it is open fields and ballfields running down to the shore, east of Hylan Boulevard.

New Dorp Lane

The neighborhood's commercial corridor runs from the Staten Island Railway station at New Dorp Plaza to Hylan Boulevard — easy to walk end to end in about ten minutes, with independent pizzerias, bakeries and newer Asian and Mediterranean spots along the way.

Through the lens

Shoot New Dorp Lane from the station end in the blue hour, when storefront signs come on; Miller Field's open lawns and the shoreline beyond are best at sunrise. The Moravian Cemetery is an active burial ground — keep photography discreet and avoid funerals.

Editorial draft — core details last reviewed October 19, 2026. Confirm practical details with the official site before you go.

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