Gerritsen Creek is a short watercourse in Brooklyn, New York City, that empties into Jamaica Bay. [1] [2] The creek has been described as one of the "fingers" that formed the original shoreline of Jamaica Bay. [3] The creek lies just beyond the maximum extent of the Wisconsin Glacier. [4]
The creek currently starts near Avenue U, but its original headwaters lay eight streets farther north, [5] in what is now Midwood. [6] : 211 Within that neighborhood, Bay Avenue and Olean Street run diagonally to the rest of the street grid, flanking the former path of the creek. The creek had been truncated to the intersection of Nostrand Avenue and Kings Highway by the early 20th century, flowing southeast through the neighborhood of Marine Park. [6] : 211 That part of the creek was buried in a storm sewer in 1920. [3]
The creek's mouth and much of its remaining length is part of a public park called Marine Park; the head contains the Salt Marsh Nature Center, while the artificial Mau Mau Island is located nearby. [6] : 212 According to Touring Gotham's Archaeological Past, the mill and the dam for its tide pond were between Avenues W and V, and the mill pond beyond the dam extended past Fillmore Avenue. [7] In recent decades, efforts have been made to restore parts of the creek, particularly the salt marsh near its mouth, to a state closer to its natural one before modern settlement. [3] [8] In 2012 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers budgeted $8.3 million for the restoration.
Archeological investigation has determined that Native American people started to settle permanently in the creek's watershed as early as 5,000 BCE. The creek's name comes from a historic grist mill built on the creek's shore in the 17th century. [9] The mill, a tide mill, the first to be built in North America, was built when the area was colonized by the Dutch. [6] : 212 [10] The mill remained in use for hundreds of years, until 1890. There were early proponents of preserving heritage buildings who lobbied for its preservation. Mayor Jimmy "Beau James" Walker was brought to the site to view the structure. [6] : 212 However, no efforts were made, and the abandoned building was burned by an arsonist in 1935.
Recreational boaters regularly abandon unwanted and damaged recreational craft near the creek's mouth. [11] [12] [13] The small salvage firm White Cap Marine Towing and Salvage, of Sheepshead Bay, [12] [13] specializes in rescuing or salvaging the smaller recreational vessels and smaller fishing vessels that operate out of the smaller inlets around Jamaica Bay, and is also a franchisee of Sea Tow, the leading marine assistance services company. It has a contract to keep the area clear of abandoned vessels. [14]
Coney Island Creek is a 1.8-mile-long (2.9 km) tidal inlet in Brooklyn, New York City. It was created from a series of streams and inlets by land filling and digging activities starting in the mid-18th century which, by the 19th century, became a 3-mile-long (4.8 km) continual strait and a partial mudflat connecting Gravesend Bay and Sheepshead Bay, separating Coney Island from the mainland. The strait was closed off in the early 20th century due to further land development and later construction projects. Today only the western half of Coney Island Creek exists.
The New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary, also known as the Hudson-Raritan Estuary, is in the northeastern states of New Jersey and New York on the East Coast of the United States. The system of waterways of the Port of New York and New Jersey forms one of the most intricate natural harbors in the world and one of the busiest ports of the United States. The harbor opens onto the New York Bight in the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast and Long Island Sound to the northeast.
The Belt Parkway is the name given to a series of controlled-access parkways that form a belt-like circle around the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The Belt Parkway comprises three of the four parkways in what is known as the Belt System: the Shore Parkway, the Southern Parkway, and the Laurelton Parkway. The three parkways in the Belt Parkway are a combined 25.29 miles (40.70 km) in length. The Cross Island Parkway makes up the fourth parkway in the system, but is signed separately.
Gerritsen Beach is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, located between Sheepshead Bay to the west and Marine Park to the east. The area is served by Brooklyn Community Board 15. The population of the neighborhood is 4,797 as of the 2020 U.S. census.
Sheepshead Bay is a neighborhood in southern Brooklyn, New York City. It is bounded by Ocean Parkway to the west; Avenue T and Kings Highway to the north; Nostrand Avenue and Gerritsen Avenue to the east; and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. Sheepshead Bay is abutted by the neighborhoods of Brighton Beach and Homecrest to the west; Midwood to the north; and Gerritsen Beach to the east.
South Brooklyn is a historic term for a section of the former City of Brooklyn – now the New York City borough of Brooklyn – encompassing what are now the Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Sunset Park and Red Hook neighborhoods. It was named for its location along the waterfront that was the southern border of the original Village of Brooklyn, and has remained widely used as a colloquialism despite it no longer being the southernmost point of the borough. It should not be confused with the geographic southern region of the modern borough of Brooklyn, which includes the neighborhoods of Gravesend, Seagate, Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Gerritsen Beach, Marine Park, Mill Basin, and Bergen Beach.
Marine Park is a public park located in the neighborhood of Marine Park in Brooklyn, New York. Its 798 acres (3.2 km2) surround the westernmost inlet of Jamaica Bay. Most of the land for Marine Park was donated to New York City to be turned into public park land by the Whitney family in 1920 and by Frederic B. Pratt and Alfred Tredway White, who jointly donated 150 acres (0.61 km2) in 1917. The land donated consists of the area between the current day Fillmore Avenue and Gerritsen Avenue and East 38th Street. Originally almost 2,000 acres (810 ha), over half of which has been donated to the National Park Service as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, the park is mainly a fertile salt marsh which is supplied with freshwater from Gerritsen Creek.
Brooklyn Community Board 15 is a New York City community board that encompasses the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Gravesend, Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Homecrest, and Plum Beach. It is delimited by Corbin Place, Coney Island Avenue, Avenue Y, 86th street, Avenue U and McDonald Avenue, Avenue P and Kings Highway on the north, Nostrand avenue and Marine Park on the east, as well as by the Atlantic Ocean on the south.
Community boards of Brooklyn are New York City community boards in the borough of Brooklyn, which are the appointed advisory groups of the community districts that advise on land use and zoning, participate in the city budget process, and address service delivery in their district.
Marine Park is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood lies between Flatlands and Mill Basin to the east, and Gerritsen Beach, Midwood, and Sheepshead Bay to the south and west. It is mostly squared off in area by Gerritsen Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, Avenue U and Kings Highway. The neighborhood's eponymous park is the largest public park in Brooklyn. Charles Downing Lay won a silver medal in town planning at the 1936 Olympics for the planning of Marine Park.
Alan N. Maisel is an American politician who served in the New York City Council for the 46th district from 2014 to 2021. He is a Democrat. He formerly represented the 59th district of the New York State Assembly from 2006 to 2013.
Lewis A. "Lew" Fidler was an American politician and New York City Councilman. In January 2002, he began his first term representing the 46th district in New York City, which includes the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bergen Beach, Canarsie, Georgetown, Flatlands, Marine Park, Mill Basin, Mill Island, Gerritsen Beach, Madison and Sheepshead Bay.
Plumb Beach is a beach and surrounding neighborhood along the north shore of Rockaway Inlet, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is located near the neighborhoods of Sheepshead Bay and Gerritsen Beach, just off the Belt Parkway.
White Cap Marine Towing and Salvage is a small marine salvage firm based in New York City. The firm operates out of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, a small inlet that connects to the much larger Jamaica Bay. The firm is owned by Jack and Bernie Schachner, and specializes in rescuing or salvaging the smaller recreational vessels and smaller fishing vessels that operate out of the smaller inlets around Jamaica Bay. White Cap is also a franchisee of Sea Tow, the leading marine assistance services company. The National Park Service employs the firm to remove abandoned craft from the ecologically protected Gerritsen Creek, part of the 25,000-acre (100 km2) Gateway National Recreation Area.
Mau Mau Island, also called White Island, is a small uninhabited island in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, located between Gerritsen Creek and Mill Creek in the Marine Park recreation area. Historically, the area around Mau Mau Island was a salt marsh with shifting topography. The island came into existence permanently sometime after 1917, and most likely formed in 1934 as dumping led to the current shoreline.
Spring Creek Park is a public park along the Jamaica Bay shoreline between the neighborhoods of Howard Beach, Queens, and Spring Creek, Brooklyn, in New York City. Created on landfilled former marshland, the park is mostly an undeveloped nature preserve, with only small portions accessible to the public for recreation.
Shirley Chisholm State Park is a 407-acre (1.65 km2) state park in southeastern Brooklyn, New York City. It is bound by Belt Parkway and Spring Creek Park to the north and Jamaica Bay to the south, situated atop the former Pennsylvania Avenue and Fountain Avenue Landfills. The first sections of the park opened in 2019.
Gerretsen's Mill at Gravesend, L. I., also known as Johannes Gerritsen's Mill and the Whitney mill, derived its name from a 1750s Dutch miller in the area of Marine park, Brooklyn. The mill was situated near what is now known as Garritson's Creek and Mill Pond, formerly referred to as the Strome Kil. The origin of the name can be traced back to historical references, including an Indian deed mentioning land belonging to Hugh Garretson, likely referring to the same location. The farm was parceled to Dutch settler Wolfert Gerritse van Couwenhoven ,an original patentee, director of bouweries (farms), and a founder of the New Netherland colony. The three-hundred-year-old mill was destroyed by fire in 1935 by arson.
Around 1920 the creek north of Avenue U was converted into an underground storm drain.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)"Gerritsen Creek is one of the original "fingers" of the great "hand" of Jamaica Bay, and over the last century it has been the victim of human intrusions that have damaged its ecological functioning," said Parks Commissioner Benepe.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The more recent research showed the various stages of the modern history of Gerritsen's Creek, including how it used to extend approximately eight blocks further north than its current ending point at Avenue U in Brooklyn, N.Y.
According to the Parks Department, the first tide-powered mill in North America, built in the mid-1600s by Hugh Gerritsen, once sat just across Gerritsen Creek from where I'm standing, and the wooden pilings you see crossing the creek supported the mill's dam.
"They" were the hardy Gerritsen clan, among the first European settlers in the region. According to Teunis Bergen's Register of the Early Settlers of Kings County (1881), the Gerritsens had for many years "owned a farm and the tide-mill . . . on the Strome Kil." The Gerritsens built their industrial plant in the early seventeenth century, and it operated continuously until the 1890s.
Captain Jack, as he is universally known at Gateway Marina in Sheepshead Bay, is a professional boat salvager and, along with his brother, Capt. Bernie Schachner, is a co-owner of White Cap Marine Towing and Salvage Inc. Summer is their busy season.
Early in the morning of June 17, the National Park Service was joined by Sheepshead Bay-based White Cap Marine Towing and Salvage, a local business hoping to do its part to help the environment.
Cruising Gerritsen Creek with Capt. Bernie Schachner at the helm of his 26-foot "emergency response" boat White Cap Salvor, Daskalakis pointed out a half-dozen abandoned boats lying in weeds along the shore. Up ahead, Schachner's brother and business partner, Capt. Jack Schachner, maneuvered another launch so his crewman could attach a line to a shabby motorboat on the beach.
Captain Jack Schachner, owner of Brooklyn-based White Cap Marine Towing and Salvage Inc., a Sea Tow franchise, said the temporary fix negotiated between the agencies is less than comforting. There would be a problem, he said, "If you happen to be calling a mayday while this thing was happening, and it was your last shot at getting help."