Two atmposheric photos by  George Bradford Brainerd.   View of three men standing in front of Erie Basin boathouse in Red Hook, 1886. One of the early unofficial names of the area that became Erie Basin was the “Fishing Place,"...

Coffey Street was originally Partition Street. Partition Street ran, in part, along raised land separating areas prone to flooding.  Local residents would leave their small boats near Partition Street.  On November 30 1891, the street was...

Pioneer Works is a center for research and experimentation in contemporary culture. Through a broad range of educational programs, performances, arts and science residencies, and exhibitions, Pioneer Works seeks to transcend traditional disciplinary...

The Brooklyn Bridge is a suspended by four main steel wire cables. It became the first major bridge of its kind when it opened for service in May 1883 and it's unique design remains essentially the same today. The concept of suspending a bridge with...

NOTE: 7/9/2024  Mat Blak announced will be leaving Red Hook: After 9 years in business, unfortunately, Mat Blak New York is leaving the neighborhood. I have grown to love this neighborhood and all of the amazing people that have supported me,...

In 1921, the Brooklyn Spar Company advertised in The Marine Journal that it sold wooden masts and posts for derricks and flag poles, which the company made at its waterfront facility at the foot of Columbia Street. In O.R. Pilat's 1929 article, John...

Captain Tom Smith was interviewed over lunch in the galley of the MARY A. WHALEN in 2016.   For part of his long career, he worked for the same company that owned The MARY, then a working oil tanker, now the flagship of PortSide NewYork....

Carolina Salguero was Associate Curator of the exhibit. Mary Habstritt, President of the Roebling Chapter of the Society of Industrial Archeology (now heading the LILAC Preservation Project) was the curator. Salguero was the mole for the Save the...

The door at 349 Van Brunt is a different sort of portal. Since 2006, it has celebrated a vision of Red Hook in mosaics. Anne Griepenberg explained its origin story on Facebook: "My friend  Max Airborne  was creating mosaics & since...

Divine Burtis, Jr, born in 1802 near Huntington Long Island and died in Brooklyn on October 7, 1896 a respected ship builder.  He is buried in Greeenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn. In the historical record, there a bit of inconsistency as to whether...