In 1950, Mrs. Callahan, born in 1853 looked back at nearly 100 years of living in Red Hook. She remembered farm animals, the 'Meadows', streams, flooding and ice skating on a pond that formed where Coffey Park is now.

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…I was born in the old sixth ward Brooklyn and came to Red Hook Point at the age of five years…

…When my father and family lived on King St. between Ferris and Dwight St., my father had three cows, five pigs and chickens. We used to have a milk route and serve customers with milk…

…Later we moved to Dikeman St. and built a house with a store in it. I used to work on an overall machine and I used to put out three dozen overalls a day, and a man named Mr. Overhopper called for them and delivered them to the merchants in New York City…

…From east side of Columbia St. to the west side of Clinton St. on Lorraine St. was Dillon's boat house. The water came up to Lorraine St.…

…On the west side of Columbia St. to the east side of Dwight St. was known as the Meadows. From Lorraine to the Robbins Dry Docks was a flow of water for four blocks. The boys and the men of the neighborhood used to row around in rowboats and the boys in the Wintertime went skating...

...From the south side of Verona St. to the north side of King St., east side of Richard St. and west side of Dwight St. is known as Coffey Park or Red Hook Park. A flow of water used to run from Verona St. to King St. In the Winter time when the water froze over, about 1,000 people—men, women and boys—would be enjoying themselves ice skating on the pond. After years gone by Coffey Park was filled in and made a beautiful park in the Red Hook section...

...In the year of 1882 an earthquake struck Red Hook Point. The people in the Red Hook section thought their houses would cave in and fall down...