By The Red Hook WaterStories team
As early as the 1800s, chroniclers have had differing accounts as to whether or not the Buttermilk Channel separating Red Hook from Governor's Island was once so narrow and shallow that cattle could be herded across it. Edwin Williams wrote in 1834...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
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...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
In the 1800s oil for candles and light was big business. In 1855 both the Atlantic Oil Company and the New York Oil Company had their works in Red Hook Point taking advantage of the easy access to the water. Atlantic Oil Company. Incorporated May...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Factories were located adjacent to the docks for ease of access to raw goods and for the shipping of finished products. Gwynne & Co.'s Palmic Sperm Works at the Atlantic Docks made candles for general consumption and bulk palmic sperm blocks for...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Advertisement: "Composite Oil Works. Atlantic Docks Brooklyn. Gwynne & Co. proprietors. Composite oils for lubricating, burning, wool dressing, color grinding, painting, &c. Also rosin oil for rope makers..."
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
An advertisement titled "Era Works, Atlantic Docks, Brooklyn." promoting the "Manufactury of Gwynne’s pumping engine and Gwynne’s Patent reaction pump Particularly adapted for the use of steamers, vessels… dry docks and fire engines."
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The 1970s were a tough economic time for the Brooklyn waterfront. Containerization of ship cargo had reduced the number of jobs, and many of those jobs had moved to facilities in New Jersey. The City and the Port Authority had a plan to build a new...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Encarnancion Armas discusses her time living in Red Hook. selection from interview: The Liberty Party Club. “It was the Liberal Party Club. And we had a party for the children, and we had in the Red Hook Stadium, and it, we caught about 2 thousand...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Excerpt of a 1974 conversation between Magda Acosta and interviewer Jamie Barreto: And do you remember the name of the boat? “Yes, the San Juan.” Where did it dock? “ I don’t remember the muelle [dock] I know it was over there by Conover and...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Luis Marrero talks about his experience working on ships in Brooklyn and some of the racial tensions with Italians. His job on the boat . “A couple of friends and I were hired to paint ships because there wasn’t any money and a person had to...
