Fading Ad Blog Rotating Header Image

History

Varkens Hook Road – formerly Varkens Hook Lane – Canarsie, Brooklyn

Varkens Hook Road @ Farragut Road & East 87th Street

Varkens Hook Road @ Farragut Road & East 87th Street

Varkens Hook Road @ Farragut Road & East 87th Street

Varkens Hook Road @ Glenwood Road & East 86th Street

Varkens Hook Road @ Glenwood Road & East 86th Street
© Frank H. Jump

There is much debate over the etymology of this road’s designation. Varken simply means “pig” or “hog” in Dutch and is attributed to any domestic swine (or person resembling one). Varkensvlees means “pork meat” as well. Hook, which the English adapted from the Dutch “hoek” does mean corner. Now if in fact this was a place where pigs were either sold or slaughtered is up for speculation. There is a Varkens Hoek in Suid Afrika (South Africa).

Another Dutch appellation suffix which often appears in New York place names is Kill (as in Fresh Kill or Fish Kill – which could mean “fisherman’s cove”) may derive from the Dutch word kuil. In modern colloquial Dutch, kuil could mean “pot hole,” but can be used for any dent or cave (as in a caved in beehive hairdo), ditch, or perhaps “inlet” or small waterway one may have come across when exploring uncharted territories. Vischers Hook – as mentioned in the Flatlands history below – may mean “fisherman’s corner.” A fishing hook would be vissen haak.

Varkens Hook Road, which runs roughly north/south, now only stretches the length of one block between Farragut and Glenwood Roads (both of which take an odd and unannounced jog south after East 56th Street due to the bisection by the commercial railroad that runs from the Canarsie Market to the Brooklyn Waterfront – see map) but was three times longer according to archival maps dating from the early 20th-century (see below). While travelling east, Glenwood suddenly becomes Farragut and Avenue H becomes Glenwood. Shortly after, you will find Varkens Hook Road.

Google Maps
Google Maps

Varkens Hook Road - Formerly Varkens Hook Lane - Canarsie, Brooklyn

Varkens Hook Road - Formerly Varkens Hook Lane - Canarsie, Brooklyn

Creator(s): G.W. Bromley & Co. — Publisher

Plate 37: [Bounded by E. 103rd Street, Avenue M., E. 104th Street, Avenue N., E. 98th Street, Skidmore Avenue, E. 96th Street, Canarsie Road Avenue, Schenck Avenue, E. 92nd Street, Denton Avenue, E. 93rd Street, Seaview Avenue, Skidmore Avenue, E. 82nd Street, Avenue L., E. 84th Street and Foster Avenue.]

Alternate Title: Plate 37: Part of Section 24.

In: Atlases of New York city. > Atlas of the borough of Brooklyn, city of New York : from actual surveys and official plans by George W. and Walter S. Bromley. (published 1907-1908)

Google Maps

The Paedergats get their names from the Dutch as well. Paerde is the archaic Dutch form of paarden meaning “horse’s,” and gat means “hole” or gap. Perhap the name is a slang for a horse’s stall since the Paerdegats resemble horse stalls. An excerpt of the history of Early Brooklyn with [my additions] in dark red:

Flatlands

Much of Jamaica Bay’s western shore as well as adjacent islands fell within the jurisdiction of the town generally known after the English conquest in 1664 as Flatlands. The Dutch, who first called their village Achtervelt [literally translated as “behind field”] and then Amesfort [Amersvoort] originally founded one of the oldest communities in Long Island, Flatlands. The Dutch also referred to the settlement simply as “de Baye.”

Several local historians claim Flatlands began as early as 1624, but its origins more accurately should be dated as of 1636, when Andries Huddie and Wolfert Gerretse made a purchase from the Canarsie Indians. A small settlement developed at a point near the later intersection of Flatbush and Flatlands avenues. The records of the 1636 purchase, a patent in the following year from the governor of New Netherlands, and other documents produced during the Dutch period fail to delineate the boundaries of the town in a manner intelligible to the modern reader. A clearer description of Flatlands, at least respecting its bay front, appears in a confirmation granted by the English governor, Dongan, in 1685. That document essentially asserted the town’s title to the land between Strome Kill and Creek, now Gerritsen’s Creek, on the southwest and Fresh Kill in the northeast.

The bulk of the contents of the Flatlands patent lay inland, the location of most of the farms and homes. However, parts of the bay front received the residents’ early and continued attention. The most important of these, between Bestovers or Befords Creek and Fresh Kill, was generally known as Canarsie, but also called Flatlands Neck, Vischers Hook, and Great Neck. Names were given to specific parcels of land within this area: Canarsie Point; New Utrecht Meadows, located south of Indian Creek; and Varkens Hook Meadows, between Irish and Bedford creeks. South of Canarsie were the Great Meadows, on Bedford Creek; Bergen Island; and the other islands extending to and including Barren Island. ¹

¹ National Parks Website: History & Culture – Online Books-

JAMAICA BAY: A HISTORY; Gateway National Recreation Area; New York, New Jersey; Cultural Resource Management Study No. 3; Frederick R. Black – Associate Professor of History, C. W. Post Center, Long Island University for the Division of Cultural Resources, North Atlantic Regional Office; National Park Service; U.S. Department of Interior; Washington, D.C., 1981
Electronic Transcription; Formatting and Editing, James L. Brown; Gateway National Recreation Area, 2001 PDF:

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/gate/jamaica_bay_hrs.pdf

Kevin Walsh’s Forgotten-NY’s: Canarsie Alleys

Congregation AAA – Ahavath Achim Anshei Canarsie – Brotherly Love People of Canarsie – Brooklyn

Congregation AAA Sfard - Canarsie,Brooklyn

Congregation AAA Sfard - Canarsie,Brooklyn

Congregation AAA Sfard - Canarsie,Brooklyn

Congregation AAA Sfard - Canarsie,Brooklyn

Congregation AAA Sfard - Canarsie,Brooklyn

Congregation AAA Sfard - Canarsie,Brooklyn

Congregation AAA Sfard - Canarsie,Brooklyn

Congregation AAA Sfard - Canarsie,Brooklyn

Congregation AAA Sfard - Canarsie,Brooklyn
© Frank H. Jump

9420 Glenwood Road – Established 1908Congregation Ahavath Achim Anshei Canarsie – Brotherly Love People of Canarsie (alternate name)¹

Superpages - Microsoft Virtual Earth

¹ Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Writers Project; Survey of State and Local Historical Records (1939); Church Records Jewish – Synagogue –
http://home.att.net/~landsmanshaft/synagogues.htm

More Canarsie history.

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House c. 1652 – Ditmas & Ralph Avenues – Canarsie, Brooklyn

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, Canarsie Brooklyn

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, Canarsie Brooklyn

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, Canarsie Brooklyn

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, Canarsie Brooklyn

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, Canarsie Brooklyn

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, Canarsie Brooklyn

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, Canarsie Brooklyn

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, Canarsie Brooklyn

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, Canarsie Brooklyn

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, Canarsie Brooklyn

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, Canarsie Brooklyn

The Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, Canarsie Brooklyn
© Frank H. Jump

The Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum & Educational CenterThe Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House c. 1652New York’s Oldest Structure & First Designated LandmarkA National Historic Landmark

Flatlands Reformed Church Cemetery – Flatlands, Brooklyn

Flatlands Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery - Flatlands, Brooklyn

Flatlands Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery - Flatlands, Brooklyn

Flatlands Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery - Flatlands, Brooklyn

Flatlands Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery - Flatlands, Brooklyn

Flatlands Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery - Flatlands, Brooklyn
© Frank H. Jump

A colleague and myself took our after-school photography program to the Flatlands Reformed Church Cemetery on Kings Highway for a photo-shoot. This is the same organization as Marble Collegiate and one of the oldest churches in Brooklyn.

Founded in 1654, Flatlands’ tradition and history is firmly grounded in the history of Dutch immigration and settlement and Dutch Reformed liturgy and theology. The Flatlands Reformed Church shares the distinction of being the oldest church in Brooklyn with Old First Reformed Church in Park Slope and the Flatbush Reformed Church on Flatbush and Church Avenues. The three congregations were founded on February 9, 1654. There are only two other Reformed Church congregations that are older than those in Brooklyn – the Collegiate Church in Manhattan and the North Dutch Church in Albany (later renamed First Church).

Walking through the tree-filtered late Autumn sunshine, you will recognize many of the names as street names in Brooklyn (i.e. Wyckoff). The sanctuary is a beautiful setting for the fall foliage and there are still a few roses in bloom late this November. Unfortunately there has been some vandalism.

Flatlands Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery - Flatlands, Brooklyn

Above is a marriage announcement for the same Teunis J. Bergen that was buried on February 27, 1922 (one of the later burials amongst many from the late 18th century and earlier). Below is a map of the Netherlands from around the time the first settlers came to Brooklyn (Breukelen).

Flatlands Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery - Flatlands, Brooklyn