Mount Loretto Unique Area is a 194-acre (0.79 km2) open space reserve and nature preserve administered by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation[1] on Staten Island, New York. Mount Loretto has approximately one mile of shoreline fronting Prince's Bay and Raritan Bay.
Along the shoreline are the highest ocean facing bluffs in New York State, the highest point, reaching a height of 75 feet (23 m). The bluffs are part of the terminal moraine, deposits of clay and gravel during periods of glaciation, the last being the Wisconsin Glacier which reached its southernmost terminus in Staten Island. The highest bluff is the location of an historic lighthouse the Princes Bay Light. The stone lighthouse, which was built in 1864 with an attached lighthouse keeper's cottage built in 1868 is a New York State Landmark. Across from the park is the Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne, used as a set for the exterior church views in the film The Godfather.
Within the preserve in addition to the bluffs there are extensive brackish and freshwater wetlands including a large vernal pond.
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The area that encompasses the Mount Loretto Unique Area was purchased from the Archdiocese of New York by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in 1999. Mount Loretto was once the largest orphanage and the largest farm in New York State, originally started by an Irish Catholic priest, Father John Christopher Drumgoole, founder of the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin in Manhattan, an organization to help poor and disposed children. He purchased the Staten Island land for the orphanage in the 1890's and named it Mount Loretto in honor of one of the nuns that worked with him at the mission.
The property contained various buildings during its history as an orphanage including St. Elisabeth's girls dormitory a large Victorian Era building which was destroyed by arson during the time title to the land was being transferred to the state.
The preserve contains a wide variety of native plants, shrubs and trees owing to the diverse habitats represented within the park.
There are various species of birds which frequent the park during various parts of the year. Along the beach there are various shorebirds such a piping plovers, the wetlands areas support habitat utilized by various species of waterfowl such as the Wood duck (Aix sponsa). The preserve is also home to snakes, turtles frogs and toads, as well as raccoons, chipmunks moles and field mice.[2][3]