Photo by: uberzombie, Creative Commons
Please take some time today to record your thoughts about the walking tour. We will continue to talk about the tour and to reference some of the locations and concepts, so having thorough notes will help you in those discussions.
As you get your thoughts together, please tell the rest of the class–actually, the open community of visitors to this site–what your experience was. This should be your story from today, not the class’s story, not anyone else’s. It might include stories you heard about certain people, places, or times. It is subjective, though; it represents what you saw from your point of view. It is your first-hand account, your primary document that lets others know what happened on the Telling Brooklyn Stories walking tour of Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights. Write at least 250 words, and add them as a comment to this post.
If you use any outside material, please acknowledge it to avoid violating our academic integrity policy. If you use anyone else’s ideas or words from today, please give them credit.
When we began our tour at City Tech, i didn’t think it would have that much of an impact on me. I was told we were just going on a walking tour of the neighborhood around our college to explore the surroundings. I didn’t expect it to be this fascinating though. I learned a lot of interesting information about the history of Brooklyn and the City Tech neighborhood. I was really surprised when i found out from Dr. Julie Golia that Borough Hall was actually once City Hall because Brooklyn was its own city at one point. As the tour continued, we were looking around Brooklyn Heights. I was actually very surprised when i found out how rich Brooklyn’s history really is. Almost all the buildings in Brooklyn Heights are historical and very old. They have the same features as people had years ago. Dr. Golia pointed out that some of the houses had boot stompers made with their stairs outside the house for people to clean off the maneuver from their shoes. I also noticed some windows had wood finishing instead of blinds. Another interesting point in the tour was the view from over the BQE. It made me realize how different Brooklyn transportation was. Before we had public transportation people had to get around by boats and horses instead of trains and cars. When i saw the street names of Brooklyn Heights, it started to make me wonder why would people name streets like Hicks, Orange or Pierrepont, and then I found out that it was actually names of wealthy slave owners. I enjoyed the tour because it helped me get familiar with the neighborhood of my new school. It also helped me discover the interesting history of the architecture of this historical neighborhood.
When anticipating a walking tour I honestly thought that it wouldn’t be interesting at all; but when by simply crossing the street the stories of the place I call home that I seemed to care nothing about before, now began to unfold right in front of me a passion that I had no idea even existed began to draw all my attention to the landmarks and the things i was being told about them. One thing that really sparked my attention was the boot scrapers. To think i’ve seen these things a million times and didn’t think twice about them but now to know the name and purpose of it and what its called in french which when transalted it very funny it was amazing to me. I also loved the names of the streets named after fruit i thought it was very funny and cute but the thing i had to love the most about our tour was the architecture of the old houses. Everything in brooklyn heights was so adorable i cant wait to explore futher on my own.
My experience of the walking tour to the Brooklyn Historical Society was not was I was expecting at first. I cant deny that I thought it was going to be boring but it turned out to be really interesting. The first place on our tour was borough hall, I get off at that stop on the train everyday to come to school but I never knew that it was an important part of downtown Brooklyn. It was the home of the borough president Marty Markowitz. To me on the trip my favorite part was walking through the neighborhoods and seeing all the beautiful brownstones which were legally land marked, that was something I learned that I didn’t know before. I like the fact that they want to keep the neighborhood the way it was created. I also enjoyed hearing the story of Henry Ward Beecher and his legacy at Plymouth Church. And the way his statue was right outside the church it was beautiful. Walking through Brooklyn and seeing all the street signs was pretty cool, because I never seen a row of streets with names such as fruits. Walking through the park and looking across the river and seeing the Brooklyn bridge and the city. Learning about all the historical sites that many people would not know was important by just looking at them. This walking tour opened my eyes to Brooklyn’s history and how much we can learn about where we are from.
The walk yesterday was really interesting to me. I’ve got to see a whole other side to Brooklyn which was pretty amazing. When the tour guides told us that many of these old houses are landmarked its amazing. To me before I thought the only things that are landmarked are the Cyclone at Coney Island and the skyscrapers. It was cool to see some of the dates on the building as well. Taking that walk through Brooklyn Heights made me see what other things were around there such as a hotel, but I don’t think its a running hotel it still has the sign up though. Throughout this expierence I was able to learn that there were many things that occured in Brooklyn such as the fire one of the tour guides was explaining to us. When she explained that Brooklyn was once its own city , it kind of shocked me because I always thought Brooklyn was apart of New York back then. Overall the tour was a great eye opener and a great expirence to learn about the past history of Brooklyn.
At the beginning of the walk I wasn’t really looking forward to it because I thought it was going to be boring and people just lecturing to us about things we may or may not have known but have seen. When the tour began from the 1st stop to the last I was amazed at how much we got covered and how much information I have obtained. During the walk yesterday I began to question myself “have I really not seen Brooklyn for what it is? Upon of our walk I’ve seen buildings with structures I’ve never seen before also I’ve learned why communities and neighborhoods are the way they are and how they differ from different communities. I’ve also taken in account of stores that are still up even though there’s new technology that makes ones life easier such as video stores. Also we came across a hotel, not in business but still have its place in the community. What also interest me are the tall building that are not being able to be build today but in the 1900’s they were. Brooklyn also have faced many obstacles of getting where it is today such as the great fire breaking out that killed over 300 people leaving this to be the most destructive event in Brooklyn. Overall I felt it was a good informative tour that gave many people including me a different point of view towards Brooklyn.
Walking through the halls of city tech I never really cared where this school was located ,all I knew is that this was my school for now. Starting the tour behind city tech I was able to see the back of my school. To me Brooklyn was just from city tech to the train stop. The story we heard at the beginning about the theater in Johnson St now part of city tech, in a way amazed me. To know that our school was once a theater were over 300 people were killed should scare us a little, but because of this incident the way building were made changed drastically because having a safe building does safe peoples lives. I think through out the trip everyone learned something that they will always remember. It even allows us to show off to people of what we know about Brooklyn. From the famous boot scraper to Brooklyn once being its own city everyone on this trip learned to see Brooklyn from a different perspective. Around the middle of the trip we were able to kind of have a taste of both worlds. Only a few block from each other we transitioned from City Tech to Brooklyn Heights. Due to the fact that Brooklyn Heights had landmarks, I believe it made the experience so much better. As the years go by things always change, but it was really nice to see a part of history with our own eyes. What if all buildings were allowed to be ruined? We would only have photographs to allow us to see how peopled lived back in the days.
The walking tour around Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn heights was very interesting and I learned many things about its history. I learned that before 1898 Brooklyn was its own city and had its separate identity, it joined to be part of New York City to be more powerful and have better transportation of goods. It was amazing to walk a few blocks and see total different neighborhood, a historic landmark. As we made each stop and the tour guide told us its importance and history I could picture Brooklyn Heights in the 1800s. I pictured the dirty roads, farmlands, horses and chickens all over the place. I found the boot scrapers very interesting since I pass by them everyday and never knew they had such a use. Boot scrapers and the architectures of the buildings really give you a mental picture of what life was like for our ancestors. This also helped me understand how our lives have been made so much easier by the advantages of technology such as trains, cars and airplanes instead of horses and ships, etc. I also found interesting how different people communicated for example with the Henry Ward Beecher scandal there were many different newspapers talking about it. People would have to buy all of them to be updated or just listen to the gossip going around town. Having this experience of being told Brooklyn’s history while looking at the actual places were it happened was amazing. I am now looking forward to visiting the Brooklyn Historical Society and learn more about Brooklyn’s history since it is the place were I live and its very interesting to see how it has advanced over the years.
The walking tour of Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights is very interesting and I learned many new things during the tour. One of the most interesting things I learned is the boot scraper. It is the first time I heard of it. If I have walk pass those houses normally, I would never know what that is. Others things I learned are that Brooklyn uses to be its own city, and it joined New York City to become a greater city. So it could be one of the great cities to dominate the economy. During the tour, I also learned that one of the places around the school use to be a theater and because of a fire accident, over 300 people had die. It is one of the most drastic tragedies happen in Brooklyn during that time. I found that Henry Ward Beecher is very interesting. He is a great abolitionist and a famous person yet he is in one of the most notorious American trials for having an affair with a married women. I have learned that Brooklyn Height is protected by Landmarks Preservation Law. Many of the building were protected and can’t be rebuilt. Many of the building and architecture are very unique. Upon arriving at Brooklyn Bridge Park, I find the view very astonishing. I never get to see the city this way before. With only a few blocks from City Tech, you get to see a completely different neighborhood.
-Chao Wa Cho
When I went on the walking tour with the Brooklyn Historical Society yesterday and I learned it was just going to be downtown Brooklyn and some of Brooklyn heights I took it as a free day to do nothing and was very uninterested. I never really knew how beautiful the area around our school was and didn’t really think we would see anything amusing. But when the tour began I immediately became interested with the story of the theater burning down because I remember hearing about it but never really knew where it was, so I learned something there. Another part that really just inspired me was the view of Manhattan cause I didn’t really know out school was so close to the view and also the view of the Brooklyn bridge. Another interesting and I feel great part of the tour was when our guides told us the stories behind certain buildings and famous stories about Brooklyn. I also liked the urban legend story about the crazy lady who took down the signs of the street names and replaced them with the different fruit names. Even thought the guides told us that story wasn’t true it was nice to know that was an urban legend that certain people think why Brooklyn got street names like cranberry and pineapple. To be 100 percent honest I really did like the tour a lot and I do plan visiting certain places again. I especially will visit that boardwalk again and hopefully get a closer view of the Brooklyn bridge.
The telling Brooklyn Stories walking tour of Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights, yesterday when we all were in this expedition I was thinking only that the instructor will talk about who named this borough as Brooklyn and why. However, I didn’t have in mind that there is many more stories behind this very borough that many of us living in for many years, and among those stories I can remember that the two instructors had mentioned, that Brooklyn used to be a city. The place we know as Borough hall today that used to be part of city hall. Moreover, I was curious about the neighborhood that I’m living in call Flatbush and I asked one of the instructor why people named that way? The instructor told me, “It used to be a farm land where people used to work as farmer.” And this amazed me because living in NY city for five years I wasn’t thinking of researching on that from the history era, but now it all make sense what it really means, Flat=fertile/farming land, bush= plant. Furthermore, while we were walking on the trip we saw many streets name after peoples name and most of them were name after people who own slaves back on 19th and 20th century. This are the experiences I gained while I was in the trip, and it’s very interesting to know that history it’s not only about war, presidents, etc it also views a place/land and what’s the story behind it.
Honestly till yesterday I never walked past the college campus. It was always from the train station to school from school to the train station, so when I heard about this walking tour around Brooklyn I didn’t really want to go. Starting out the tour I hadn’t even seen that side of the school. I never thought that Brooklyn had so much history behind it. Learning about the fire that killed 300 people amazed me how something like that still has its effect on us because of the fire we now have a certain limit of people that can occupy a space at one time. Something else that really called my attention was to learn that Brooklyn was its own city at a point in time, one of the largest cities in the country. Entering Brooklyn heights was like entering a different work, I was amazed to see how 2 blocks could make such a difference. It was so beautiful that I fell in love with the architecture of the houses. It was really interesting to see that they were in exactly the same way they were back then in the 1800’s due to the fact that the area is landmark so they can’t be changed in anyway. My favorite part of the trip was going to park over the BQE it was so beautiful and the view was breath taking and to learn that what was now that beautiful was once the backyard of the homeowners that live there. I’m actually excited about the walk because I learned a lot of information that I’m sure isn’t in textbooks.
I found the walking tour very interesting. I learned many things that I hadn’t known about Brooklyn’s history. I learned that Brooklyn didn’t always have roads. The roads once consisted of dirt. There were also horses and chickens roaming the streets. While walking through Brooklyn Heights, the tour guide told us many interesting facts about the neighborhood and stories about the people. We were brought to a neighborhood that could never be destroyed or altered due to the fact that it was a landmark. There was also a tall building next to the neighborhood but it was the only one because they don’t allow building that high to be built there anymore. I thought the houses were really nice since they were never changed. There were many houses with boot scrapers. I learned that they were used to clean your shoes before entering your home. The tour guide also took us to a church which honors a man who was supposedly against slavery and racism, but had an auction of slaves in order to “free them”. The street names were also very interesting to me because some were named after fruits and some were named after people. The tour guide told us that Brooklyn was once a city and at the time the Brooklyn Bridge didn’t exist. Therefore if this hadn’t changed, boats would have to bring people in. This would be bad for Brooklyn because they could bring in disease. The tour made me realize that Brooklyn is a beautiful place with a lot of history that should be known. I enjoyed the tour because I learned a lot from it. I hadn’t really been around the area that we were taken to and I was surprised to see that Brooklyn has a lot of quiet areas. I really never thought that Brooklyn was an interesting place, but now I seee that it is.
Imagine waking in the streets during the 1875 and see horses instead of taxis or buses, perhaps you will be scared or maybe exiting to be in that time. Later on you will be using a boot scraper to remove the excrement of the horses in order to enter a house. Maybe going to the Borough Hall and talk about your point of view about politics and give some suggestions or maybe go to Plymouth Church and listen the preacher Henry Ward Beecher taking about freedom the slaves. If I was living during that time maybe I name some street for example Pineapple or Orange Street or perhaps not who knows Brooklyn was the third larger city of this country. Now in this days New York City is compose by Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island. In these boroughs there is a story behind the concrete and Brooklyn has many land marks that shows the Culture of New Yorkers that little by little is banish from the mind of the people. That why the trip bring a life the culture that probably many people didn’t know and it’s in our hands to transmit to our future generations the origin of our Culture. New York has many stories that are waiting for people to discover the real story that are behind the concrete. I think that the purpose of that trip was to bring a life what it look like living during the 19 century and how our Culture grow.
When i first heard that we were going on a walking tour around city tech i wasn’t very interested. I never took a look around the neighborhood of city tech and knew how it looked all i did was take the train to school and then back home that’s why i wasn’t interested. I took it as a free day where we were going to walk around and then later on go home. I didn’t expect the tour to be this interesting and to make me learn things which i didn’t know before. What really amazed me was walking five blocks away from city tech could lead you into a totally different place where the houses and the buildings were older and different. They were also protected by landmarks and prevention laws. I also was interested in learning about the boot scrapers and what they were used for. If i was walking alone and saw them i would’t have payed much attention to them because i wouldn’t have known what they were. I also learned about one of the theaters which was close to our school was burned down because of the fire and it killed about 300 people. The church was also interesting where we saw the statue of Henry Ward Beecher and learned he was a abolitionist and about how everyone was talking about his scandal and were buying all kind of different newspapers to find out more information about it. So this tour turned out exciting and i learned a lot of things from this tour which i didn’t know before.
-Asad mahmood
I would of never thought city tech was surrounded by many historical buildings. Living in New York and actually going to on this tour made me feel like a tourist. So many things I didn’t know about brooklyn. I love the fact that in one minute we was in downtown brooklyn with the big buildings and in the next minute we was in a whole new world. To tell you the truth if it wasn’t for this tour I would have never know how important that neighborhood was. From the boot scrappers to the long doors and windows I loved it all. I didn’t even know boot scrappers existed in New York. If I was to pass by it, I would have never noticed it. As my friend and I walk together, we said to each other ”Damn i want to live here” It was all so beautiful. What I also found interesting , is finding out that Brooklyn was the major city. It wasn’t always New York City like people make it seems. Brooklyn was just another borough to me but now it means a lot more to me. I will be definetly taking my friends to Brooklyn Heights.
I wasnt to excited to go on a brooklyn walking tour. Being from brooklyn and attending highschool in the clinton hill area, i thought to myself, who could tell me more about brooklyn than I already knew? The First shock that i got was that Brooklyn was once its own City, And the Third largest. On our first stop, we learned about a theatre that was located across the street from our own City Tech. Out of all my years in history classes, i was surprised to learn i hadn’t herd of the theater, let alone the massive fire that killed hundreds. This is where we obtained most occupancy requirments. Soon enough we headed to Brooklyn Heights, an area my friends and i lingered around to look for new spots to eat, cool shade, and a bit of quite from downtown. We stopped by brownstones, houses i was familiar with as “expensive”. The tour guide then told us that these houses were landmarks and couldnt be destroyed by law. Then she pointed out a small detail of boot-scrapers on the railings of the houses, a fact that will stick with my class forever. We came to a church where we learned of a man Henry Ward Beecher who preached about the freeing of slaves. I was happy to see that this man and perhaps his whole congregation had this opinion of slavery. The prominov had such a beautiful sight showing off the bits of history of what our city once was. The docks would of been bustling with boats, ships as the industrial area was a big part of new york city. I think i now have a new understanding and feeling for my own city. _Courtney-Maya
When we headed out for the trip I was honestly not interested already because the thought of just walking around and looking at different buildings and etc for three hours was just too much. During the walk I definitely found it even more boring since we didn’t stop at places to eat or to drink and I was getting tired. But that doesn’t mean the things I went and saw and learned were insignificant and colorless. Seeing a whole church built for one preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, I was surprised at the fact that I never heard about him or learned about him in any of my history classes when he is important enough to have a statue right outside the church. Also this trip informed me of the past of the borough, Brooklyn. I never knew Brooklyn wasn’t part of NY in the beginning and instead was it’s own city. Although I lived here my whole life I don’t know a thing about it’s history so I am glad I went on this trip to learn about so many new things which now I can talk to my friends about. I would like to have another trip like this again, but next time I hope we can rest in the middle of the tour for like 15 minutes or so so if you need any food or drink you can eat it then.
I found the walking tour of Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights interesting. I don’t live in Brooklyn and have never spent any good amount of time in the Downtown Brooklyn or the Brooklyn Heights area so learning anything about the area where I plan to spend my college career is pretty cool. The first stop the tour made was across the street from the City Tech. There we were told the story of the burning down of the Brooklyn Theater. We then found out that the building that was rebuilt is now apart of City Tech. At the next stop on the tour we were shown Brooklyn Borough Hall. I found this interesting because I knew there was a city hall of New York but what I didn’t know was that each borough had a hall of its own. One of things I found the most interesting was the fact that Brooklyn was a city by itself before actually becoming a New York City borough. The next sttour then made its way into Brooklyn Heights. There I noticed incredible diversity amongst the people that lived there. The tour guide then explained the reason as to why the buidlings that the Brooklyn Heights people lived in were so old. The guide explained to us that all of the buildings are protected by landmarking laws. I found this interesting because I knew buildings could be considered landmarks but I didn’t know entire neighborhoods could be. I learned a lot on this tour and I look forward to learning more about Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn Historical Society Tour we took was very interesting to me. Personally, I like history and learning the origins of things and places. Being born and raised in New York, I liked to learn new facts about Brooklyn and its rich history. With Brooklyn being so large, I wasn’t surprised to hear it was once its own city, but didn’t know it was one of the largest also. The reason behind it merging with New York City was another new fact to me. The historical significance of Brooklyn heights and its buildings was interesting to me. The history of the street names, the boot scrapers, and the narrowness of the streets in Brooklyn heights were cool too. Also the different zoning laws in place for the different neighborhoods blocking them from making any changes. The differences in the neighborhoods were very noticeable to me because on this tour also. I didn’t know that the Brooklyn Bridge Park was once a backyard for the homes of the area. The devastating theater fire was something I had never even heard about and was surprised that I didn’t seeing how large it was. I also never knew about Henry Ward Beecher, the abolitionist who held mock slavery auctions to show the brutality of slavery. I’m glad a place like the Brooklyn Historical Society is around to preserve this kind of history that isn’t really covered in schools. I liked the tour and how it made me more aware of things in Brooklyn and its past.