A project by PortSide NewYork

Welcome to 400+ years of Red Hook!  Inclusion is a theme in this e-museum that memorializes forgotten, overlooked and erased histories. It’s a resource for locals, tourists, history buffs, urban-planners, educators, students, flaneurs.  It tells NYC’s maritime story in microcosm.  Explore:

  • our waterfront past & present
  • contemporary Red Hook retail, arts, non-profits, schools, recreation, transit
  • flood prep & resiliency info

Explore via menus, the search window, or interactive map. On the map, click the colored, numbered dots to expand multiple items in that location. Then, click on a pin to explore that item. Anchor icons mean sites of major importance.More about this site

Click empty spot on map to activate it

Atlantic Dock AD - Doggett's New-York City directory for v 1847 crop.jpg

Ad For Atlantic Docks, 1847By The Red Hook WaterStories team

Construction of The Atlantic Dock - a massive, man-made harbor for deep water ships, began on June 3, 1841.  The erection of stout stone warehouses and towering grain elevators that could handle…● Text from an Advetisement in Doggets New York City Directory for 1847 Storage for Grain, Flour, Sugar, Molasses, Cotton, ETC., AT THE ATLANTIC DOCK, NEW-YORK. FORTY ACRES WATER SURFACE WITHIN THE…
One Share of One Dollar of the Red Hook Building Company

Red Hook Building CompanyBy The Red Hook WaterStories team

In 1838, a proposal was printed and addressed to the newly formed board of the Red Hook Building Company.  It was aimed at getting more support for the publicly owned real estate development concern…Select text from the Proposal. (A pdf of the full original is linked below) "The advantages of Brooklyn as a place of residence, as well as for commercial purposes  - in view of its proximity to the…

Random Items

In 1953, Thomas Thompson, cook aboard Dalzell Towing's tugboat Datzellera, wrote a guest column for the Brooklyn Eagle's feature Harbor Lights. “I am allocated $10.05 per day to feed six men, three…● Text of Article: BROOKLYN EAGLE, WED JUNE 3, 1953 Harbor Lights By JEANNE TOOMEY (Miss Toomey is on vacation. Her guest columnist today is Thomas Thompson, cook aboard the Datzellera, sensational…

In 1921, the Brooklyn Spar Company advertised in The Marine Journal that it sold wooden masts and posts for derricks and flag poles, which the company made at its waterfront facility at the foot of…

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