The Wharf. Little has been written of the wharf on New Amsterdam’s East River. It is pictured in the famous “views” of the little city, unprepossessing in size and unscalable in imagination. A contemporary description, written in 1661, says that from the northeast gate at the east end of the palisade, or wall, built across the island, south to Whitehall at the Battery was a distance of 400 yards. In this area, “there is a gutte, whereby at high water boats goe into the towne.” Between this point and Long Island, across the East River, “[big] ships ly at anchor, to lade and unlade goods, secure from hurt of any wind and weather.” The wharf was meant to serve the smaller boats that wished to move into and out of the town and to help in the loading and unloading of sea-going vessels.
