By The Red Hook WaterStories team
In the 1850s, David P. Wild was the proprietor of the Bay House. He advertised that the bar was well supplied with wines, brandies, ales and cigars of the very best brands. He also outfitted fishermen with sail and row boats, tackle and bait. The...
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
Bernard Ratzer surveyed the New York City region (including Red Hook, Brooklyn) for the British in 1766-7. His map is the most accurate one known of that time. Initially published in 1770, it was brought to wider attention when Henry Reed Stiles...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Wandering cows? Jostled milk? How did Buttermilk Channel, the water between Red Hook and Governor's Island, get its name? Contemporary explanations usually fall into two camps. We found an older one. 1) Dairy farmers shipped their milk to...
