Vinegar Hill (Brooklyn)

Vinegar Hill is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is located on the East River, east of Dumbo and west of the site of the New York Naval Shipyard, aka Brooklyn Navy Yard.

The district stretches from the East River to Front Street and Bridge Street to the industrial area of ​​New York Navy Yard and comprises about 6 blocks. Before the construction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which runs to the south of Vinegar Hill, the district extended to the Tillary Street. A part of the present district was designated as a Historic District of the City of New York. This includes three separate parts ( Area I -III), on Front Street, Water Street and Hudson Avenue. Most of the buildings date from the 19th century, in part can be found here purely residential buildings, some industrial buildings with warehouses and factories. The covering some streets still consists of the original large stone pavement of granite blocks. In the late 19th century the population of this district consisted largely of Irish, it was therefore also known as Irish Town.

History

End of the 18th century, the land was purchased by the building contractor John Jackson and the later bankers and members of Congress Comfort and Joshua Sands. Jackson opened a shipyard at the end of today's Hudson Avenue and built homes for the shipyard workers in the area. Beginning of the 19th century, he sold land to the federal government of the United States, who built here the New York Naval Shipyard. Jackson expanded the residential areas for the workers and employees of the shipyard, which employed up to 7,000 people. He gave the district the name Vinegar Hill in commemoration of the last battle of the Irish- English conflict, the Battle of Vinegar Hill, in Enniscorthy, Ireland, took place on 21 June 1798. The shipyard, which had strongly influenced the formation of the district, was finally abandoned in 1966, following the City of New York managed the site and founded an industrial area.

Tourist importance

Located on the corner of Evans and Little Street, between 1805-1806 in the Federal-style built and the National Historic Landmark register house Quarters A. Here, traditionally attended by the Commander of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Among other things, the Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry lived from 1841 for about 10 years here.