Once the Verrazano Narrows Bridge was built the Brooklyn Ferry, at 69th Street, was no longer the, "short route to New Jersey". (Museum of the City of New York)

For New Yorkers interested in getting closer, but not too close to Staten Island, the Museum of the City of New York and the Working Harbor Committee is hosting a boat tour to compliment the museum's current exhibit: “From Farm to City: Staten Island 1661-2012.″

The tour, which circumnavigates the Island, will look at the past, present and future of the waterfront and its relationship to the city's marine history. It also provides a nice chance for New Yorkers keen to learn more about the forgotten borough, but wary of setting foot on Staten Island soil (or the nautically inclined).

The three-hour boat tour, scheduled for November 3 from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., will explore the borough's coves and lighthouses, the site of the proposed 625-foot high Ferris Wheel and the villages of Tottenville and Stapelton, where the Sandy Hook Pilots and the New York City fireboats dock. Historians, city-planners and waterfront professionals will speak.

Ticket prices run $40 for the general public. Of course, penny pinchers can always take the city's free Staten Island ferry and tour the island on foot.

kvelsey@observer.com