Where Was Yellow Hook?

The Narrows, between Red and Yellow Hook (ca. 1600-ca.1900)

Perhaps crazier than the mystery of where 5th and Broadway was in Williamsburg... the blogger at Pardon Me For Asking dug up an old map showing something called Yellow Hook. Indeed, there was a Yellow Hook! The NYPL (where there's currently a great exhibit mapping New York's shoreline), has some more evidence of this magical land, which was south of Red Hook.

According to the resourceful and always factually accurate Wikipedia, Yellow Hook was actually what is now known as Bay Ridge! It was named for the yellow hue of its soil "by the original Dutch settlers. This name was changed in 1853 after yellow fever struck the area and residents realized what an ill fit it was given the circumstances."

PMFA now has an update, stating that the map at right may be "a stylized version of a U.S. Coast Survey map drawn in 1837."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on November 18, 2009 6:15 PM

Comments [rss]

chorosch

Directly across from the main entrance to Greenwood cemetery is a florist (McGovern's? something like that.) The original proprietor of the shop is the person who coined the name "Bay Ridge" when people were searching for a replacement for Yellow Hook.

jaycjay

Really? That florist has been there since the 1850s?

thelexiphane

Climb to the top of the hill in Yellow Hook/Bay Ridge's Owl's Head Park for a great view of the Narrows. The plaque in the park says that settlers gave the area its name for the yellow clay that would leach into the water of the bay.

Good post.

TimSPC

There's a nice plaque on the Bay Ridge library with the Yellow Hook name history.

brandonz

Hunters Point used to be Dominie's Hoek.

emilydickinson

Yellow Hook was the part of South Brooklyn in what is now Bay Ridge. They changed the name because of outbreaks of Yellow Fever in the olden times. Much like what real estate agents do to neighborhoods now.