By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The large Red Hook, Brooklyn estate of Jordan Coles was put up for sale on June 2nd, 1836, following his death. The map shows the Gowanus Creek, before it was turned into a canal; mills and mill ponds; scattered houses and a mansion, not aligned...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The large Red Hook, Brooklyn estate of Jordan Coles was put up for sale on June 2nd, 1836, following his death. The map shows the Gowanus Creek, before it was turned into a canal; mills and mill ponds; scattered houses and a mansion, not aligned...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Grain was king in Red Hook, Brooklyn, in the latter half of the 1800s, . Boats loaded with grain would float down the Erie Canal, then down the Hudson River to the grain storehouses of Atlantic Basin, and later, in an even bigger way, Erie...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Tide mills were used in Red Hook to grind grain into flour. They were also used to grind ginger. Water from the twice daily high tides was captured in mill ponds. A gate could be opened, sending the water rushing down a channel and...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
2016 draft map created by Eymund Diegel, based on his research describing Red Hook streams, ponds, tide mills up to around 1850. The base map is the Bernard Ratzer's 1766 survey. Captions are derived from Stile's comprehensive...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
From the early 1600s until the 1830s, near the current Van Brunt, Van Dyke and Coffey Streets, stood the Van Dyke "ginger mill." Spices were important in early American cooking. Their generous use was a demonstration of wealth and...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
1844 Coastal Survey. Red Hook's watery past has a bearing on how this place floods in current times. This map shows the topography at the end of Red Hook's tide mill pond era, meaning that much of what is today called Red Hook is still water. Note...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Coles Street opened in 1850. It was likely named after Jordan Coles, who, among his various enterprises, ran a one of Brooklyn's seven water powered mills in the early 1820s. Together the mills produced most of Brooklyn's flour, over 6,000 barrels...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
A building boom was expected for Red Hook Point in 1851. New streets were being constructed and a cotton mill was planned. Cotton was grown in the South but since the opening of the Atlantic Docks, in 1845, shiploads were coming to Red Hook to...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The landscape of Red Hook has been dramatically changed by people at least twice in its history. Starting in a major way around 1830, marshland was filled in to make solid land, and the coast line was modified to better suit boats. Nearly...
