I lived in New York for my whole life, but I never give myself a chance to understand this diversity city. I missed her history, stories, people, and all the places I never been to before. And Brooklyn Hights was one of them. Now, I would like to know them, the buildings, houses, streets, blocks, people, and their stories…
Brooklyn Heights is famous for its beautiful architecture and brownstone row houses what were built before Civil War. Below are some of them I saw on Thursday, 8/26/2021 — —
Brooklyn Heights is in one of the five boroughs of NYC, Brooklyn. It originally called Brooklyn Village. Its bounds are: on the east, Cadman Plaza West; on the north, Old Fulton Street; on the west, Brooklyn- Queens Expressway / East River; on the south, Atlantic Ave. It also famous for its notable churches what I will talk about later on. According to some sources on the web, it says, “In 1965, a large part of Brooklyn Heights was protected from unchecked development by the creation of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District, the first such district in NYC. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.”
In the middle of 17th century, the Dutch settled in Long Island, but before this, the native Lenape American Indians called Brooklyn Heights “Ihpetonga” (the high sandy bank), because it is a promontory what occupies a plateau which is just rises from the river edge and then gradually recedes toward the landward side.
In early 1642, ferries were running across East River to serve the farms. And the most important one was run by Cornelius Dirksen.
During American Revolutionary War/Battle of Long Island, General George Washington withdrew his troops in Brooklyn Heights after heavy losses. After the war, Loyalist John Rapeljie’s 160 acres of land was confiscated, and then they were sold to Sands brothers. Sands brothers wanted to develop part of the land to a “Olympia” community, but because of the difficulty of building there, he failed. Later, they sold part of the land to John Jackson who created the “Vinegar Hill” community, and it became the “Brooklyn Navy Yard.”
Brooklyn Heights’ history will be continued in next article…
