A bit of an introduction. I was born in 1964 and live in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. I walk the same streets my family did when they lived here decades ago. Having moved here in 1997, I’ve now been walking in the footsteps of my elders for twenty years...
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The Dutch & the English, Part 3: Construction of the Wall (1653-1663)
Sunset Park: The Blue-Sky Line
The Dutch & the English, Part 2: A Wall by Any Other Name
In 1653, the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam built a fortification along the northern edge of the town, running from the Hudson River (today's Greenwich Street) to the East River (then lapping at Pearl Street). Eventually the English captured the city, and named the street that ran along that old fortification Wall Street. But what did the Dutch call it?