The oil tankerMARY A. WHALENwas launched May 21, 1938.The ship is PortSide NewYork's ambassador to theBLUEspaceand site of our offices and many programs. Why she is significant? She is the the last of her kind in the USA.She is the only oil…

Click here for a curated tour through Red Hook WaterStories' collection about Atlantic Basin.The construction of Atlantic Docks in the late 1840's jumpstarted the development of Red Hook. The facility was so innovative, large and such an inspiration…

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…

Joe Ruggiero, aka “Joey Chips” since he always shows up at a party with a bag of chips, is a WWII vet who is still driving in 2016. He served as a Bosun Mate on the Navy vessel THURSTON and participated in 6 D-Days in 4 years including Normandy,…

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 friendMax Airbornewas creating mosaics & since that door didn't…

Sometime before 1689, Stephanus Van Cortlandt (d. 1700) erected a water-powered mill on his property, roughly at the corner of present day Dikeman and Van Brunt Streets. "The mill-pond, which was formed by damming off the creeks and natural ponds in…

Cowhey Marine Hardware operated in Red Hook for about 150 years. The rump remains of the business was at 440 Van Brunt Street, the northwest corner of Van Brunt and Beard Street, and closed in 2005. Cowheydonated their final inventory to PortSide…

A Cruise in the Erie Basin, an article by Don C. Seitz, and published in Frank Leslie's magazinesin 1892, relates the story of Red Hook's Erie Basin. It grew from a scene with “hardly a building to be seen south of Atlantic Street, and not a single…