Black Tom Island EarthCache
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Waypoint 10 of 10 (plus bonus cache) on Going Coastal’s NY-NJ Harbor Estuary EarthCache Discovery Trail in Liberty State Park, caches developed by Going Coastal, Inc. (www.goingcoastal.org) as a special project in affiliation with Groundspeak and support from the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary Program and the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission.
The NY-NJ Harbor Estuary Earthcache Discovery Trail is meant to help visitors develop a better understanding of the Estuary, make connections between earth and environmental science, and foster stewardship.
Black Tom was originally a small offshore island. It was one of four glacial moraine islands, made of dirt and rocks deposited by the last glacier. Black Tom was about 1,200 feet from the shorefront. It comprised about 20 acres, dimensions of about 800 feet north and south and 1,200 feet east and west.
The four islands of low uplands with creeks flowing between them were once surrounded by over 5,000 acres of low-lying tidal flats known as the Jersey Flats, made of mud and sediment deposited by the Hudson River as it emptied into Upper New York Bay. The Jersey Flats were historically home to the largest oyster bed in the world largely caused by the protection of Robbins Reef sand bar. The reefs forming the hard foundation of the Jersey Flats extended from Black Tom to Robbins Reef and were made of gneiss rock carried from the Bergen Hills. The sediment is characterized by mixed detritus eroded from older glacial material.
The great expanse of oyster beds extended all the way from the tip of Staten Island up the Hudson River to Newburgh. Gathering oysters and shad fishing was the area’s earliest industries. Early Dutch settlers called the group of islets including Black Tom, Bedloe and Ellis islands the Oyster Islands. The oyster beds however, were destroyed by the late 1800s due to the arrival of railroads and industry that polluted and contaminated the waterways.
The construction of the piers at the rail depot caused changes in the tidal currents. dumping of cinders, ash and street refuse into the North River (Hudson River) and harbor diminished the velocity of the currents and caused the formation of shoals around the Jersey piers which acted as breakwaters. By 1875, refuse and sediment increased the size of the Jersey Flats and began encroaching on the main shipping channels. The Flats were a dumping ground. Bedloe and Oyster islands were enlarged by city refuse.
National Storage Company purchased the island for $530,000 and went to work making bulkheads, piers, and deep water berths out of Black Tom. Lehigh Valley Railroad made a causeway to Black Tom Island from 1860 to 1880. (visit link) Then the railway dredged a 20-foot deep channel through the shallow shoals to docks where coal was transported from the Lehigh Valley coalmines in Pennsylvania and barged to the New York harbor markets. They later landfilled the island making it part of the mainland, shaping a mile-long wharf just opposite the Statue of Liberty. (visit link)
Before the United States entered World War I, German saboteurs blew up the Black Tom depot. Black Tom depot conveyed munitions to both Germany and Britain. America had declared its neutrality. When the British Navy started a blockade to cut off shipments. The sabotage at Black Tom was directed at hindering shipments to Allied Powers. In the morning of July 30, 1916, two million pounds of ammunition exploded, including TNT, black powder and dynamite. (visit link)
The explosion was earth shattering, breaking thousands of windows in lower Manhattan. Shrapnel pockmarked the Statue of Liberty. Immigrants awaiting processing on Ellis Island had to be evacuated. The Black Tom depot with its freight cars, warehouses, barges, tugboats and piers was completely destroyed. Within a year of the Black Tom explosion, America entered the war on the side of the Allies.
Geologists estimate a sustained earthquake with equivalent force would have registered a 5.5 on the Richter scale. Initially, Lehigh Valley Railroad was held responsible for the explosion. It wasn’t until 1924, when the railroad sued the German government for damages that it was revealed to have been the work of German spies. The Wilson administration withheld the information in an effort to keep the U.S. out of WWI. Germany finally paid America reparations in the amount of 50 million dollars in 1979.
Nothing remains today of the Black Tom facility. However, the southern border of the park traces the original shore. There is a plaque marking the spot of the incident at Black Tom. The bulkhead and cove here are now popular water access spots where people fish, launch kayaks and picnic on the jetties, former rail spurs. The Jersey Flats are popular sport fishing grounds.
The Black Tom explosion was one of the worst covert acts in American history. On September 11, 2001, the landfilled peninsula was witness to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. In the days and weeks after the attack, Liberty State Park became a staging ground, playing an vital part in rescue and recovery efforts. The Grove of Remembrance was dedicated in 2002 in memory of the lives lost on that tragic day.
In recent years, oysters have been reintroduced to New York Harbor waters. Shellfish are filter feeders. This means they clean water by feeding on plankton and waterborne detritus. One oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day. Many citizen groups and government agencies work actively to restore and protect the estuary's natural resources.
Logging Activities:
1. List two ways humans have modified the landscape.
2. (Optional) Historical land cover and land use patterns in this area contributed to the degradation of the soil and water. Look around for human efforts at land rejuvenation and stewardship here. Planting trees and the fishing line recycling bin are two. Can you find two more?
3. (Optional) Name some ways you and your family enjoy the Harbor Estuary. Do you fish, boat, swim, shorewalk, kayak, bird watch, etc.? (POST TO YOUR LOG)
To log a find on this earthcache, email the cache owner (DO NOT POST IN YOUR LOG), unless instructed otherwise. We have added a bonus cache - use your GPS device to locate - GC2TFHP.
We hope you enjoyed your exploration of Liberty State Park and the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary EarthCache Discovery Trail. Remember, to upload a photo and let us know in your log ways we can improve the trail.
To reserve a field trip for your class, please contact the educators at the Nature Interpretive Center at (201) 915-3409. Geomate Jr. GPS units will be provided for your group for your high-tech exploration of the geology and ecology of Liberty State Park. More information and additional resources are available online at www.goingcoastal.org (visit link)
Data Sources
• Army Corp of Engineers - www.nan.usace.army.mil/project/newjers/factsh/
• Federal Bureau of Investigation - (visit link)
• Black Tom- New York Times September 8, 1879 (visit link)
• Wikipedia - (visit link)
Name and Type of Land
Liberty State Park
200 Morris Pesin Drive, Jersey City, NJ 07305
Phone: (201) 915-3440
(visit link)
OWNER: NJ Department of Environmental Protection
Additional Hints
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