the bridge access steps on your left just before Prospect Street.
Once upon a time not too long ago, walking the Brooklyn Bridge was an insider tip you’d give tourists. Not anymore. It can get packed with sightseers, and there are a lot more bicyclists too. Stay in the lane designated for pedestrians. When the Brooklyn Bridge opened in May 1883, it was the tallest structure in the United States and the longest suspension bridge in the world. This wooden-planked promenade was the world’s highest human-made observation platform at the time. Today it remains one of the only places in the world where airplanes can fly above people walking above vehicles driving above boats sailing above trains running (through the underwater subway tunnel). Look for a plaque on the Manhattan-facing side of the Brooklyn tower honoring Emily Roebling, who supervised construction of the bridge after her husband, chief engineer Washington Roebling, was paralyzed with the bends (his father John had designed the bridge but died before construction began). The bends—then simply labeled “decompression sickness”—killed 20 men on the bridge construction crew, and others also suffered respiratory and neurological ailments from working inside caissons, the huge airtight chambers installed in the riverbed so men could work underwater laying the foundations. Those caissons, as well as John Roebling’s steel “rope” design, were among the bridge’s many significant innovations. It dates to a time when one in four bridges would collapse; almost no other American bridge its age is still functional. You can learn about the construction step-by-step from engraved tablets at the railing in the areas around the two towers; they also cover Brooklyn’s maritime heritage, East River bridges and islands, and other relevant topics.
This walk may be the ultimate NYC photo op, but the bridge itself is a beloved subject of photographers, painters, poets, filmmakers, and so on. My favorite quote about this experience comes from historian David McCullough, reflecting in the Ken Burns documentary Brooklyn Bridge: “The bridge makes one feel better about being alive. I think it makes you glad that you’re part of the human community, that you’re part of a specie that could create such a structure.”
Points of Interest
Etsy 117 Prospect St.; etsy.com
Brooklyn Bridge Park Plymouth Street and Adams Street; brooklynbridgepark.org
Jane’s Carousel Brooklyn Bridge Park, Old Dock Street off Water Street; 718-222-2502, janescarousel.com
St. Ann’s Warehouse 45 Water St.; 718-834-8794, stannswarehouse.org
Bargemusic Fulton Ferry Landing, Water Street and Old Fulton Street; bargemusic.org
Cadman Plaza Park Cadman Plaza West and Middagh Street; nycgovparks.org
Brooklyn Heights
2
Brooklyn Heights:
Epitome of 19th-Century Gentility
Above: Classic Italianate brownstones on Remsen Street
BOUNDARIES: Middagh St., Clinton St., State St., Promenade
DISTANCE: 2.5 miles
SUBWAY: 2 or 3 to Clark St.
It may be self-defeating for me to say so, but you really don’t need a guide in Brooklyn Heights. It’s compact, and wherever you might wander, you’ll probably like what you see. This was Brooklyn’s first residential neighborhood—America’s first suburb, some call it—and it still contains hundreds of antebellum homes. It was also the first historic district designated by the city, which means the old houses haven’t been getting demolished, as happens in communities without landmark protection. The architectural riches of Brooklyn Heights include some glorious churches and other public buildings. And perched along its west end is the Promenade, offering views of the East River and many of NYC’s most famous landmarks. All things considered, the Heights has few peers among urban communities in this country.
Walk Description
Exit the subway on Henry Street. You’ve emerged from within the St. George, a hotel described in a 1930s guidebook as “the social mecca of all Brooklyn.” It opened in 1885, and by 1929 had expanded to 2,632 guest rooms—the most of any hotel in the world. Its ballroom, saltwater pool, and rooftop restaurant were legendary. The hotel closed in the 1970s, and the building is now residential.
Go to the left on Henry, then make a left on Orange Street.
Make a right on Hicks Street. That two-dormered corner building on your left at Cranberry dates to 1822.
Turn right on Cranberry Street. Midblock on the left is the Church of the Assumption, erected in 1908. The parish (est. 1842) lost its original building, located farther east, to eminent domain when the Manhattan Bridge was constructed. The Art Deco Cranlyn apartment building on your right near the end of the block has terrific polychromatic terra cotta panels and a metal bas-relief at the main entrance featuring the Williamsburgh Savings
