Once of the many things that impressed me the most was the Old Stone House in Joseph Alexiou’s speech. No matter how many times it came up, it always seem to come up again in another fashion. As a result, I found it fascinating that a single, apparently unimportant building kept returning for more information.

The earliest mention of the Old Stone House was when it was built, back in 1699. Being the first “hardy build” house in New York would be quite an accomplishment, and would therefore be considered the first true building of New York. Being mad of stone would be a huge help, as it would also be more resistant to wear that the wooden houses would also have.

Going into the detail of how the water almost submerged the Old Stone House was also an impressive image. The thought that they were so close to destruction, only to end up taking advantage of it by making a small river path by going from it to other water pathways gave insight to how high the water reached, much more than what is typical of today. It also showed how insightful the people who lived in the house were, being able to take a near disaster and making it so they can sell their goods and services even when it wasn’t quite as powerful was impressive. Last but not least, it made a somewhat humors image in my mind. Being able to go from near disaster to suddenly making it into an advantage was an impressive feet to me.

The Fact that the Old Stone House also was the site of a failed revolutionary battle was also a highlight. While we did win the Revolutionary war, hearing about a failed battle is rare due to how we would rather focus on our victory, and offers an interesting perspective on things. Having a group of heroes known as the Maryland four hundred use the stone house to provide cover for the six thousand retreating troops form the Brittan’s twenty thousand redcoats gives an amazing imagery, even if it was that of Americans losing a battle.

Lastly, the Old Stone House being bought out for land development to help build the Gowanus made it seem like it just kept coming back. Being part of the development that would go on to be used as the site where the Gowanus Canal was developed and made to try and entire people to develop the area showed me that the Old Stone House was here to stay. I sincerely doubt that a single building in the Gowanus area has more importance than this single building.