Pest Control in Tottenville, Staten Island
Tottenville is the southernmost neighborhood in New York City and New York State, sitting at the very tip of Staten Island where the Arthur Kill meets Raritan Bay. Main Street retains a small-town feel, with older storefronts, churches and nineteenth-century homes, while newer developments spread across former farmland. Conference House Park preserves the historic Conference House and offers waterfront trails and beaches, and the Tottenville station marks the southern end of the Staten Island Railway. Page Avenue and Hylan Boulevard connect the area to the rest of the South Shore. The neighborhood has a close-knit, maritime character and a strong sense of history.
About Tottenville
Tottenville takes its name from the Totten family, early settlers of the area. The Conference House, built in the late seventeenth century by Christopher Billopp, hosted a failed 1776 peace conference between British admiral Lord Howe and American delegates including Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. In the nineteenth century Tottenville was a thriving center of oystering and shipbuilding, and many of the Victorian homes near Main Street date to that prosperous era.
Common Pest Problems in Tottenville
Tottenville's historic core near Main Street is filled with nineteenth-century frame houses and Victorians that have been standing for well over a century. Their wooden sills, porches and additions are prime targets for subterranean termites, which thrive in the damp soils near the water. The same old houses often have attics with loose trim and aging vents, giving squirrels and raccoons access. Conference House Park and wooded lots nearby provide both animals with cover and food.
The waterfront along the Arthur Kill and Raritan Bay, with its marinas, docks and shoreline brush, supports Norway rats that move into nearby yards, especially where garbage or compost is easily reached. Mice enter homes each fall, often through gaps in old stone and brick foundations. The damp, cool basements common in older Tottenville houses are ideal for house centipedes, which prey on other insects and can startle residents with their speed.