A Mineral Biography of the City

For years, the skyscrapers in New York were firmly planted in Mid-town and down at the end of the island not by choice, but because there the dense Pegmatite-rich rock was exposed at the surface—Mica Schist strong enough to hold the weight of towers. This same type of rock inhabits the coast of Maine, vast areas of Scotland and Riverside Park along the Hudson. As a kid, I knew Mica from streets that glinted in the sun, playgrounds peopled by boulders that seemed made of silver and gold, rocks on the beach with layers you could peel open like pages in a book. A Mineralogy curator named Peter told me mineral samples of Mica are sometimes termed “books.” My mother remembers finding books of Mica in the alley next to the building where she grew up in Brooklyn. Edgar Allan Poe lived across from Riverside Park when he is rumored to have written