In view of something

1. Does "in view of the Statue of Liberty" mean "from this site the Statue of Liberty could be seen" or "from the Statue of Liberty this site could be viewed"? I think the former. Am I right?

2. Does the red sentence mean that the furrows were also dug by hand or not? I think not. Am I right?

Context:

In her work Wheat field—A Confrontation, Denes planted and harvested two acres of wheat on a landfill in Manhattan’s financial district in the summer of 1982, in what is now Battery Park City. This site was adjacent to the former World Trade Center complex and in view of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. To make planting possible, Denes coordinated the tractors that leveled the landfill; 200 truckloads of soil were brought to the site, and an irrigation system was installed, in order to create the necessary conditions for successful planting by May. Furrows were dug into the topsoil and further clearing of rocks and trash took place by hand.