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
Shaft Alley Saloon
"We have mostly men here - very few women. No unattached women permitted at the bar. That’s a simple way of preventing trouble."One of the best known watering holes in Red Hook was the Shaft Alley…
![Nautical Chart No. 369, New York Bay and Harbor, 1845 [cropped]](https://redhookwaterstories.org/files/square_thumbnails/0686e8f1bb0c03684d9191f84bad79a2.jpg "Nautical Chart No. 369, New York Bay and Harbor, 1845 [cropped]")
Historic Nautical Charts
Historic nautical charts provide interesting details on the evolution of Red Hook.
From NOAA Office of Coast Survey:
Today's Office of Coast Survey traces its charting efforts back to 1807, when…
How the Hamilton Avenue Ferry got started, 1846
The Hamilton Avenue Ferry was established in 1846. It was run by the Union Ferry Company, who also ran the Fulton Ferry at that time. A major destination was a new upmarket cemetery. The ferry…
Random Items
Growing land, Squatter Sovereigns and Picking Profit: 1887
A fair portion of today’s Red Hook was once water. An 1887 article in the Brook Eagle marvels that Henry and neighboring streets have been extended nearly half a mile in ten years. Marshes with…Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sunday July 3 1887Transcription.
HENRY STREET’S CHANGES--A Walk at the Lower End Well Worth Taking.--The Growth of a Year and a Half – Squatter Sovereigns – Side…
NYCHA information - Management Offices, Residents Associations, Sandy recovery & resiliency plans
The NYCHA public housing in Red Hook is the largest NYCHA development in Brooklyn, and the second largest in New York City. It is where the overwhelming majority of Red Hook residents live. The NYCHA…
Oral History: Hank Dam, recollections of WWII work at Todd Shipyard. 2005
When interviewed at a vigorous 82 years of age, Hank Dam laughs hard remembering the WWII slogan of Todd Shipyard “the difficult we do every day, the impossible takes a little longer.”
Hank…
Tug Talk: Mariners' Names for Red Hook
Tug captains use landmarks (points on land visible from the water) to tell other mariners and the Coast Guard VTS and the Coast Guard VTS (Vessel Traffic Service - the harbor equivalent of air traffic…