WALLABOUT WEEK ON CHB

That area north of Park is usually a mystery. What goes on up there? Do people live there? What the hell is Wallabout? This week, we'll explore some of this uncharted territory and let you know what's new, exciting and intriguing.

As it turns out, this week is going to be quite pivotal for the area. Clintoncentric, one of our favorite 'hood bloggers, has decided to help us out here as she hasn't had enough time to keep CC as updated as she'd like. Turns out, she knows lots about Wallabout!

Here's her first contribution:

On Thursday, October 19th, the Historic Wallabout Association will present the latest developments on creating a Historic Wallabout District for the 22 blocks north of Myrtle Avenue and south of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, between Carlton and Classon Avenues. I pulled up an old pdf from a past HWA meeting and skimmed through it for interesting factoids:

The neighborhood is named after its original settlers, the Walloons, French-speaking Protestants from what is now Belgium, who in 1624 settled along a bay on the East River and named it Waal-bogt. Later, as the area became a major industrial center, it also attracted a major produce mart in the 1880s called the Wallabout Market. This is a pic from 1934, and according to this man's blog, it was the second-largest market in the world at one point: (If only it was still there! Then maybe we would all be eating better!)

To this day, the Wallabout area has the largest concentration of pre-Civil War frame houses in New York City.

The HWA's general meeting is from 6:30-8:30 PM at the Benjamin Banneker Academy, 71 Clinton Avenue.

*** Crap! That meeting time conflicts with the SCH meeting, and I can't attend either. Poo. Hopefully another CHB contributor can check it out.