Frances D’Angelo grew up in in Red Hook and remembers when was a “big ship town.”  She was 91 when, in 2014, she was interviewed by Amanda Decker of the Red Hook Star Review.

She has been going to Visitation Church, as did her parents and grandparents,  all her life and recalls the boat excursions around Red hook that the Church used to organize annually. 

“Back then it was mostly Italian and Irish in the neighborhood. In the summer we used to go down to the park by the water and watch all the ships coming in– there were a lot of them back then. Out where Fairway supermarket is now we used to get in the water and go swimming– all the kids did that back then. We would just dive right in without thinking about it. Things have changed so much here…”

She remembers seeing the famous French ocean liner SS Normandie (maiden voyage: 1935, career ending fire in New York: 1942) sail through the waters off of Red Hook.

Sadly, Frances D’Angelo passed on in 2015.

The full interview with more of her memories can be found in an archived copy of the Red Hook Star Review, July 9, 2014