NY1 continues its look-back at the history of Staten Island with an exploration of age-old places that appear completely different today. Borough reporter Amanda Farinacci filed the following report.

In their heyday, lighthouses were as common on Staten Island as street lights, as they were essential to helping mariners navigate the waters surrounding the borough.

Today, lighthouses' lights are automated and most residents hardly even know they are there.

Farms, once a crucial aspect of Staten Island life, are now long-forgotten. At one time, a farm lined a section of Richmond Avenue, seen above.

"Like people go now to farmers' markets, it was like that, but instead of the farmers' market being all in one place, you went up and down the street and you could go to different farms for different things," says Carlotta DeFillo of Historic Richmond Town.

The Black Horse Tavern once stood at the intersection of Richmond and Amboy Roads, but is no more. During the American Revolution, the famed tavern was home to British officers, including General William Howe.

The tavern, seen right, was demolished in 1934 to widen Richmond Road for cars, and now there is no trace that it ever existed.

"Taverns were also meeting places in the colonial period. Taverns were places where you got news from various places because travelers would bring news with them," says Union County College Professor Phillip Papas.

In Rosebank, the Garibaldi-Meucci Memorial still exists, though it has been moved from its original location. The home of inventor Antonio Meucci was a place of refuge for Italian nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi.

After Garibaldi went back to Italy and led forces that helped unify the country, the house was preserved in his honor. A pantheon with Roman columns was built over the house, seen left, but it was later removed because of termites.

"There was a lot to remember that was very rich and important about Italian-American history on Staten Island, and so this was a good site for remembering it," says Wagner College Professor Lori Weintrob.

In 1833, at the request of philanthropist Robert Richard Randall, a retirement home for sailors named Sailors' Snug Harbor was built on Staten Island. For more than 130 years, the area that is now the Snug Harbor Cultural Center was the premier retirement home for what Randall called "aged, decrepit and worn-out sailors."

"One of their favorite activities of all times was telling stories. All the men liked to talk to one another and to visitors about their life at sea," says borough historian Barnett Shephard.

After struggling financially, Sailors' Snug Harbor moved to North Carolina and the land was declared a historical landmark by the city in the 1960s.

Nowadays, Snug Harbor is home to a botanical garden and educational center and is considered one of Staten Island's crown jewels.