Welcome to 400+ years of Red Hook! Inclusion is a theme in this e-museum that memorializes forgotten, overlooked and erased histories. It’s a resource for locals, tourists, history buffs, urban-planners, educators, students, flaneurs. It tells NYC’s maritime story in microcosm. Explore:
- our waterfront past & present
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contemporary Red Hook retail, arts, non-profits, schools, recreation, transit
- flood prep & resiliency info
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Featured Item
The MARY A. WHALEN
A PDF guide to MARY A. WHALEN inEnglish,French,German,Spanish,Italian
The oil tankerMARY A. WHALENwas launched May 21, 1938.The ship is PortSide NewYork's ambassador to theBLUEspaceand site of our…
Brooklyn Spar Company, 1921
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…
Insurance maps of the Warehouses, &c. in Brooklyn, 1861
William Perris was a first in producing fire insurance maps for Brooklyn. The Great fires in 1835 and 1845 that destroyed large sections of the New York City made it clear to insurers the utility of…Double Page Plate No. 8; [Map bounded by Hamilton Ave., Bowne St., Imlay St., Commerce St., Ewen St., Ferris St.; Including Wolcott St., Sullivan St., King St., North Pier St., South Pier St.]Page…
Random Items
Winter Life on Canal Boats, 1915
Near Christmas time, 1915, a female reporter and an illustrator for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, visited a few of the many canal boats and barges moored for the winter in Erie Basin “in search of a story…Full article text:
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 26, 1915
WINTER LIFE ON CANAL BOATSResidents of Erie Basin Celebrate the Holidays in Much the Same Fashion as Folk Ashore.
GUESSING the right house…
What is Affordable Anyhow, May 2025
The issue of affordable housing is always an issue in the greater Red Hook, Brooklyn area, as it is elsewhere, but it is particularly relevant at the time of this writing (Spring 2025) when the NYC…
There are plans (as of this writing in 2025) to rebuild the current federally-subsidized Red Hook Gardens; 31 two-family townhouses, on and around Visitation Place. The new buildings promise that…
Insurance maps of the Warehouses, &c. in Brooklyn, 1861
William Perris was a first in producing fire insurance maps for Brooklyn. The Great fires in 1835 and 1845 that destroyed large sections of the New York City made it clear to insurers the utility of…Double Page Plate No. 8; [Map bounded by Hamilton Ave., Bowne St., Imlay St., Commerce St., Ewen St., Ferris St.; Including Wolcott St., Sullivan St., King St., North Pier St., South Pier St.]Page…
Colonies of Cozy Canal Boats Cluster for Winter In Quiet, Land-Locked Havens of Brooklyn Basins, 1911
This article from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sunday, March 12, 1911, recounts the winter-time lives of Erie Canal barge families who winter in Erie Basin.
Colonies of Cozy Canal Boats Cluster for Winter
City of Inland Navigators Prepares for Annual Exodus.
COMMUNITY BOASTS OF UNIQUE FEATURES
Children Enjoy Sports on Docks After School Hours.
With…