Welcome to 400+ years of Red Hook history! Here are many forgotten stories from our evocative neighborhood, and NYC’s maritime story in microcosm. Explore:
- A digital museum about our waterfront past and present
- Red Hook retail, arts, non-profits, schools, recreation
- Resiliency and flood prep info
It’s a resource for locals, tourists, history buffs, urban-planners, educators, investors, flaneurs. Explore via menus, the search window or the interactive map. On the map, click the colored, numbered dots to zoom in to multiple items in that location. Then click on a pin to explore that item. Anchor icons mean sites of major importance.
Click empty spot on map to activate it
Featured Item
Jim Ebersole's artwork: Mary A. Whalen in the Red Hook Container Port, 2015-2016
From the artist:
In the spring of 2015 artist Jim Ebersole was invited by Portside NewYork to paint and draw the Mary A. Whalen and her surroundings during the last weeks of her time inside the Red…
Alf Dyrland, Captain of the MARY A. WHALEN, 1958-1978
Alf Dyrland was Captain of the MARY A. WHALEN from her rechristening in 1958 until 1978 when he retired. He was her first captain; she was his last boat.
Alf loved the MARY deeply. As he lay…
Paul Morris Art: Ikea Pier
From the artist:
I'm a NYC based photographic artist who is reconstructing reality. As I see these images, my mind immediately starts to restructure and rearrange them. Photography is my way of…
Random Items
Red Hook Building Company
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…
"Why, this is the Erie Basin!" she murmured.
Literary Reference 1908 detective novel with a setting in Erie Basin“Alice gazed about and presently recognized her surroundings. "Why, this is the Erie Basin!" she murmured. "How in the world did I ever come here?" Now, the Erie Basin has nothing whatever to do…
Jim Ebersole's artwork: Mary A. Whalen in the Red Hook Container Port, 2015-2016
From the artist:
In the spring of 2015 artist Jim Ebersole was invited by Portside NewYork to paint and draw the Mary A. Whalen and her surroundings during the last weeks of her time inside the Red…
Brooklyn Spar Company
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…