Conference House Park

Coordinates: 40°30′11″N 74°15′11″W / 40.50306°N 74.25306°W / 40.50306; -74.25306

Conference House Park is a park in the Tottenville section of Staten Island, New York, one of the boroughs of New York City. The park is named after the historic Conference House a c.1680 stone manor house in which a peace conference was initiated on September 11, 1776 by Lord Howe representing the British Crown with representatives of the Continental Congress including Benjamin Franklin, in an effort to halt the American Revolution. The area of the park was once part of Bentley Manor owned by the Billop family. The Henry Hogg Biddle house constructed between 1845 and 1853 is another historic structure in the park.

The park is located along the coast along the Arthur Kill where it opens into Raritan Bay. The park contains clay bluffs, part of the terminal moraine, formed when the Wisconsin Glacier receded 10,000 years ago.

A Lenape Indian campsite and burial ground, known as Burial Ridge, are located within the boundaries of the park, set back from the clay bluffs. In the late eighteenth century George H. Pepper of The American Museum of Natural History conducted archaeological digs on the site, unearthing the remains of Lenape buried there. There are still shell middens visible along the shore line that become exposed due to erosion. The Lenape graveyard was looted for many years prior to the park's extensive overhaul, by area inhabitants and others seeking to recover the grave goods buried with the bodies.

Conference House

The Conference House (also known as "Billop House") was built before 1680 and is located near the southernmost tip of New York State on Staten Island, which became known as "Billop's Point" in the 18th century. The Staten Island Peace Conference was held here on September 11, 1776, which unsuccessfully attempted to end the American Revolutionary War. The house, a National and New York City Landmark, is the only pre-Revolutionary manor house still surviving in New York City. It is located at Conference House Park overlooking Raritan Bay. The house is also located within the Ward's Point Conservation Area, separately added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Before the American Revolution

Captain Christopher Billopp, after years of distinguished service in the Royal Navy, came to America in 1674. He was granted a land patent on 932 acres (3.7 km²) on the southernmost tip of Staten Island. Archaeological evidence, including shell middens and digs conducted by The American Museum of Natural History in 1895, have shown that the Raritan band of the Lenape camped in the area and used the location as a burial ground. The burial ground known as Burial Ridge is the largest pre-European burial ground in New York City.

House Park

House Park is a 6,000-6,500 seat American football stadium in Austin, Texas that is owned and operated by the Austin Independent School District. Unlike many school districts in Texas, AISD uses multiple shared stadiums including House Park for use in athletic events rather than building a stadium for each High School.

House Park opened in 1939 along Shoal Creek, just down the hill from the old campus of Austin High School near downtown. The stadium was built on land donated by Edward M. House, a former diplomat and adviser to Woodrow Wilson. House Park was later dedicated to the memory of the Austin High students that lost their lives serving in World War I and World War II.

High School Sports

As of 2012, the stadium still serves as the home stadium for Austin High, as well as Anderson, McCallum and Lanier High Schools. The absence of a track sets it apart from most other high school stadiums in large cities, but it does also host soccer games and has in the past been the site of the Texas High School Lacrosse Championships.