Four original battery walls were found in line with State St.

In the single most historically rich area of New York, it is no surprise that artifacts dating back to the early 18^th century might crop up at construction sites. But no one was expecting four pre-revolutionary-era stone walls to stand, literally, in the way of South Ferry subway station progress.

Discovered by Metropolitan Transportation Authority crews during excavation for the $400 million terminal, the walls were revealed in sections along State Street at Battery Park. The first, uncovered in November 2005 near Battery Place, set off a flurry of archaeological activity by the New York State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), both eager to determine the wall's original function and construction date.

But before city and state officials could even really dig into analyzing the wall, another was found, then another, then another, along with thousands of smaller artifacts such as fragments of ceramic dishes, bottle glass, bones, and an intact 1744 British coin. It became clear that one crew's historical goldmine is another's construction excavation dilemma.

"We were expecting to find artifacts [at the site]. That's why we had archaeologists supervising the excavation," says Mysore Nagaraja, P.E., president of MTA Capital Construction. Planners went so far as to create a map overlay of the archaeological "hotspots" in the construction area, which proved to be spot-on. But of the walls themselves -- while significant to the history of Manhattan and the nation -- he says, "They are very much in the way."

Four Walls as One Fortification

The four walls, though unearthed in sections as far apart as 500 feet, appear to have been part of the same pre-Revolutionary War battery wall. Dating from the mid-1700s, SHPO archaeologists concluded that they represent "one of the oldest standing manmade structures in the United States, part of the first military fortifications during the colonial years by the British," according to a report by the MTA.

"Wall No. 1," discovered just south of the World Trade Center Globe Memorial in Battery Park,

New 1-train tube will lie along original shoreline

Crews found a smaller, second wall four weeks later near the first wall and a third wall three weeks later further south near 17 State Street. That third wall measured 80 feet long and up to four feet high, and unlike the first two, it was not set on bedrock. Rather, it was stabilized by large cobbles perhaps held in place with "cribbing" (logs tied together and filled to extend the shoreline).

The fourth pre-Revolutionary War-era wall was found in February 2006

Altogether, the wall sections likely would have comprised sections of Fort George (its final name), which ultimately stood as a four-bastioned quadrangular fort and changed hands between the Dutch and British between the 1680s and early 1700s. Located mostly at the site of today's U.S. Customs House (1 Bowling Green), the fort was dismantled starting around 1788, with some of its debris used to fill in the western shore.

Getting Back on Track

The solution to resuming MTA subway construction was settled by SHPO and LPC, together with the New York City Parks and Recreation Department. Specialists recovered as much data from the wall sites as possible, and architectural conservators are carrying out documentation, dismantling, and storage of the first three walls (wall four continues to be excavated and documented). The agencies' specialists will reconstruct the walls in a Parks facility on Randall's Island for further analysis.

Though their fates have yet to be finalized, presently Parks plans to reassemble all or parts of the walls in Battery Park, perhaps as an historic exhibit. Nagaraja says all or part of the walls may also return to South Ferry, perhaps as part of a display within the new station.

Meanwhile in the trenches, MTA crews are doing what they can to work in open areas, pressing

Excavation at South Ferry is as deep as 25 feet below grade

MTA Capital Construction Chief Engineer Joe Trainor, P.E., is eager to get going full tilt again. "We only have two weeks worth of dirt left [to remove], so hopefully we won't find anything else," he says with a laugh.

All told, Tranior says that the discoveries have added less than $1 million to the project's price tag and will extend the original winter 2007 completion date by at least a few months, as well as its stay in Battery Park through fall 2006.

But according to Trainor, adjustments to accommodate the city's storied history are all in a day's work for MTA crews used to major excavations. "This is not done in some field somewhere -- this is happening under the streets of New York City," he says.

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