Gowanus Bay

Gowanus Canal is Getting Cleaner Every Day

April 15, 2026 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

The Gowanus Canal (originally known as Gowanus Creek) is a 1.8-mile-long waterway in Brooklyn that was once a saltwater marsh teeming with wildlife, but is now among the most polluted bodies of water in the United States.

The area’s early settlers, on the first land patents issued in Breukelen (today Brooklyn), named the waterway “Gowanes Creek” after Gouwane a sachem (chief) of the Canarsee, an indigenous Lenape tribe who exploited the waterway’s resources and farmed its shores. [Read more…] about Gowanus Canal is Getting Cleaner Every Day

The Battle of Long Island with Dan Davis of the American Battlefield Trust

March 25, 2026 by Chris Kretz Leave a Comment

The Battle of Long Island went down in history as a major defeat for the fledgling American army and George Washington. The fighting in late August 1776 focused around the Gowanus Heights in Brooklyn and saw the patriots outflanked on their left, routed by Hessians in the center, and hunted down across the marshy Gowanus Creek.

Washington did manage to evacuate most of his troops but the fight for survival over the coming crucial months left Long Island a bitter memory best left forgotten. [Read more…] about The Battle of Long Island with Dan Davis of the American Battlefield Trust

An Update on Efforts to Save the SS United States

March 28, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The effort to save the historic steamship SS United States continues. The New York Coalition to Save the SS United States has written to Okaloosa County, Florida, and President Donald Trump, who said in his speech to Congress on March 2nd that he would “create a new Office of Shipbuilding in the White House,” to request that sinking of the ship as an artificial reef off the coast of Florida be reconsidered.

Okaloosa County has so far rejected the request and President Trump has not responded. On February 19, after months of delay, the ship was moved by tow to a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama to prepare for its sinking; it arrived there on March 2nd.
[Read more…] about An Update on Efforts to Save the SS United States

Brooklyn’s Bush Terminal: A 1902 Model for Intermodal Transportation

January 31, 2024 by Guest Contributor 3 Comments

He greets you, in his way, from 30 feet up, bronze turned Statue of Liberty green, against a pink marble backdrop and pedestal, over the entrance to his red brick former Bush Terminal Company admin building at the end of 43rd Street in Brooklyn: Irving T. Bush (1869-1948), man of business, in a business suit and tie, carrying his hat and cane, moving forward, eyes on the future, over your head. He may have nodded a brief hello.

Never heard of him? He rates the statue. Make a list of people who have imagined, built, and transformed New York City, and he should be right up there, even without alphabetical order. He helped define Sunset Park, and Brooklyn, in the 20th century. He wrote a book about it. [Read more…] about Brooklyn’s Bush Terminal: A 1902 Model for Intermodal Transportation

Brooklyn’s Sunset Park: A New York City High Point

January 25, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Brooklyn‘s Sunset Park really is a park, on a hillside facing the sunset, but it’s also busy avenues, schools and churches and hospitals, thousands of homes, commerce and transportation hubs, down to and including the vast, flat, industrial waterfront of Bush Terminal (later Industry City). [Read more…] about Brooklyn’s Sunset Park: A New York City High Point

Major General William Alexander, Lord Stirling: A Short Biography

April 30, 2023 by Peter Hess 5 Comments

William Alexander was born on December 25, 1726 in the city of New York to well-known lawyer James Alexander and his wife Mary. Mary and James had emigrated from Scotland in 1716. When they married, Mary was already a widow with six children and she and James had seven more. William was the second son of Mary and James, but when his older brother died in 1731, William became the male heir to the Alexander clan. [Read more…] about Major General William Alexander, Lord Stirling: A Short Biography

Atlantic Yacht Club: A Brief History

April 12, 2021 by Judith Berdy 2 Comments

The Atlantic Yacht Club, located on the shores of Gravesend Bay in south Brooklyn, is perhaps best known for its contributions to New York sailing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For many years, it was one of the largest and most prestigious yacht clubs in New York City. [Read more…] about Atlantic Yacht Club: A Brief History

Gowanus Bay

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