THE FERRY ROAD ON LONG ISLAND BY EUGENE L. ARMBRUSTER THE FLATBUSH ROAD
Between the junction point of the Jamaica and Flatbush Roads and the Flatbush town line were only a few houses, none of which was of historical interest. Halfway up the Flatbush Hill stood a small building, and on the top, in the midst of the woods, stood another house, which had never been finished. Past these few houses the road ran through fields and woods over Flatbush Hill to the Valley Grove. The latter was so called on account of the denser shadows caused by the sandpit on the side. In the lowest part of the valley stood on the easterly side of the road, at its junction with the Port Road, the Valley Grove Tavern, also caned Hicks' Port Tavern; this building was taken down when Prospect Park came into existence. The name Port was applied to the Valley, meaning the entrance to Flatbush; it was a little beyond the Three Mile Post from Brooklyn Ferry. The Port Road was a narrow, stony road, leading to Gowanus; it was also called the Shinpike Road, because by using this road to Red Hook Lane the farmers avoided the tollgate upon the turnpike. The tollgate stood at one time near the tavern, and until the day of the Battle of Long Island a white oak tree of immense size had stood here also, which had been one of the landmarks mentioned in DONGAN'S patent for the Town of Flatbush. This oak tree was cut down at that memorable day and laid across the Flatbush Road to obstruct the march of the British towards Brooklyn. From the valley the road continued over China Hill, a little bowl-shaped hill, propelling into the lower ground, so as to cover the road into Flatbush village. A battery was constructed upon it, which was started in 1862 and was opened to the public in 1867. In 1855 citizens of Flatbush formed the Brooklyn and Flatbush Plank Road Company and purchased of the Brooklyn, Jamaica and Flatbush Turnpike Company the latter's interest in the Flatbush Road. The City of Brooklyn now constructed present Flatbush Avenue from Fulton Avenue, Brooklyn, to the Flatbush town line, to the right of the turnpike road. In this new highway the curving lines of the old road were eliminated. After Prospect Park had been established that part of the road which ran through the park area had, of necessity, to be altered again to exclude the highway traffic from the park. The Plank Road Company laid its plank road upon the old turnpike road through the towns of Flatbush and Flatlands and was permitted to charge toll for the use of the road from Flatbush Church to Flatlands Church. The footwalks were four feet above the roadway and were lined with big horse chestnut trees. The walks were reached from the road by inclined planks, under which the rainwater ran off. Wwhen the plank road became worn out the company hired prisoners from the authorities of the Kings County Penitentiary and macadamized the road. Flatbush Avenue was opened in 1856 from Fulton Avenue to the entrance of Flatbush village and the old turnpike road was then closed. The Plank Road proper was finished in 1858, and in 1860 the Brooklyn City Rail Road Company bought the right of way from the Plank Road Company and built a single track with a switch at Winthrop Street. The first cars ran in 1860 to the Brooklyn city limits, where they were met by the omnibus; later the horse car line was completed to the Vernon Avenue depot, and the omnibus passed into disuse. Through tbe town of Flatbush the road had been known as the Ferry Road in the olden days, and subsequently as Kings Highway, the Turnpike Road and the Plank Road. Dr. STRONG called it in 1842 Fulton Street and the popular local name was Main Road. The same names were applied through the town of Flatlands, excepting the name Fulton Street. The popular name used within this town, however, was Flatbush Road and later Flatbush Avenue. In 1872 it was decided to straighten the old roads in the county, and in 1877 this road was straightened throughout Flatlands and was extended to Jamaica Bay. Many old houses stood along the road through Flatbush; space does not permit to notice all. Among the most noteworthy were the LEFFERTS house on the left side; the original structure had been erected in 1666, was burned during the Revolutionary War and was rebuilt. It bore the number 563 on Flatbush Avenue when it was removed in 1917 to Prospect Park. Across the road stood the Jeremiah VANDERBILT homestead, also burned down at the same time. The Adrian HEGEMAN stone house on the left side, between Midwood Street and Rutland Road, had the same fate. On the right side of the road stood a house built in 1710, which was also destroyed; on its site J. BIRDSALL erected about 1800 the frame house, which is still standing with its gable end to the road, and known as the MURPHY house. The CORTELYOU home on left side, on corner of Hawthorne Street, was erected about 1794; it has been razed. On the right stood the Leffert MARTENSE frame house with gable end to the road; it was another victim of the war of '76 and was rebuilt; Judge MARTENSE took it down. On the left side, between Winthrop Street and Parkside Avenue, stood Melrose Hall, built in 1749. This building was removed in the 80's of the last century and its main portion removed to Bedford Avenue. On the Parkside Avenue corner stood in 1720 the house of John Aertsen VANDERBILT; this was a century later known as the VAN COUWENHOVEN house and was soon thereafter razed. On the corner of Clarkson Street stood an old tavern on the site later occupied by the NEEFUS house. Between Clarkson Street and Lenox Road stood the Johannes LOTT house, built in 1800, which was taken down. On the right side, between Clarkson and Caton Avenues, were the grounds of General Philip S. CROOKE; the house was built in 1800. The Jacobus LEFFERTS house stood at the Cross Roads, i. e. the Ferry Road and Church Lane, built at the end of the 17th century and rebuilt by Jacob LEFFERT. It became known as the ZABRISKIE house and was taken down in 1877. Between Caton Avenue and Church Lane stood an old house which was in 1835 removed across the road by Captain STORY, who remodelled it. The CLARKSON house was occupied by soldiers in the War of 1812-14; it was later taken down and re-erected in Brooklyn, where it became a part of the Mansion House on Hicks Street. On the left side of the road, at the corner of Martense Street, stood the brick house erected by Pieter STRYCKER in 1696, which was taken down about 1850. On Cow Lane, alias Dutchman's Lane, later East Broadway, and now part of Church Avenue, stood the WALDRON house, a Dutch farmhouse of which Michael NEEFUS became the owner later on; a Liberty pole stood in front of the house. Next to it was the one-story stone building of the village school. The Dutch language was used here exclusively until 1762, and was dropped altogether in 1777. The British used the schoolhouse as the principal hospital in the war; it was razed in 1803. During the War of 1812-14 the Federal Government erected a gun house upon the site. Erasmus Hall, adjoining the schoolhouse site, was erected in 1786-87 at a cost of $6,250. The J. VANDERVEER house stood on the corner of Grant Street. Below Grant Street was the old home of the BERGEN family. Then came the old house purchased in 1711 for a parsonage; it was demolished in 1891. The Jacobus VANDERVENTER house was erected in 1781 near Tilden Avenue; south of it was a large pond. Across Tilden Avenue, formerly Vernon Avenue, was Smith BIRDSALL'S stage house. Going back to the Cross Roads, we come on the right side of the Ferry Road, upon the site of the >first Dutch church erected on Long Island. This was at the corner of the road to New Utrecht and Bath, alias Cow Lane, Church Lane, at present Church Avenue. The first edifice was erected in 1654-6, costing 4,637 guilders; this was taken down in 1698. The second edifice was erected in 1699, costing £4,873, 7.7. During the Revolutionary War it was used as hospital, prison and stable. After the battle of August 27th, 1776, the wounded prisoners were brought to this building. John VANDERBILT donated the bell in 1796. The third edifice standing to-day, was erected in 1793-96, at a cost of $12,000. The Dutch language was used exclusively here until 1792, then the afternoon services were held in English. The last Dutch sermon was delivered in 1824. When the second building was taken down and the foundation had to be removed, it became necessary to transfer the remains of the bodies buried under the church; they were placed in ground in front of the new edifice. A frame chapel was built in 1830; it was used as consistory room and as Sunday school. The new Sunday school having been erected in 1871 on Flatbush Avenue and Grant Street, this frame structure near the church was taken down in 1881. Dr. STRONG says about the parsonage: "In the first church edifice there had been accommodation for the minister and his family, but when this edifice was razed in 1698 a separate parsonage was probably built." This was the parsonage of all the Dutch towns, and subsequently Flatbush came into sole possession of the property by purchase. It was a long, low building, without any windows in the second story and with a heavy, steep roof after the pattern of the first Dutch houses. When a new parsonage was built for the Rev. Dr. STRONG in 1823 on part of the old school site, the Rev. Martinus SHOONMAKER continued to reside in the old stone parsonage until his death, which occurred in 1824. Later the building was taken down and a new one was erected in 1853 at this site, and a cost of $9,888 and 22 cents. In the cemetery in the rear of the church and facing Church Lane, stood a one-story building intended for the temporary reception of the dead; this was used at one time as the engine house by the volunteer firemen. Kings County was created in 1683 and the County Court House was built in 1686 here south of the church; a second building was erected in 1758, costing $448; at the same time a jail was built. One of these two buildings was destroyed by fire and the site was cleared of both. The third Court House building was then erected, which was used by the Hessians as barracks. It was taken down in 1792; in the same year the fourth Court House was built at a cost of $2,944 and 71 cents, also stocks and a whipping post were set up. All were consumed by fire on November 30th, 1832, and the County Court was then removed to the village of Brooklyn. The town records were kept in the Dutch language until 1776. Between the church grounds and the Court House stood a tavern and on the southern side of the Court House plot were two more taverns. The first mentioned was the inn of the Widow SHOONMAKER; this building was standing until 1917. On the south side of the Court House stood the VAN BEUREN tavern, kept by the family of that name as early as 1760; adjoining was the tavern of Duryea WIGGINS. At the corner of present Albemarle Road was Dominie FREEMAN'S house, a two and a half story structure, erected about 1735. David CLARKSON married the Dominie's daughter and the house became known as the CLARKSON house during the Revolutionary War, when it was used as a hospital after the battle. In later times it was known as the John C. BERGEN house, and was taken down in 1900 or 1901. On what was at one time the corner of Waverley Avenue stood a house erected before the Revolution. Dr. SHOONMAKER, the son of the Dominie, owned it at one time. The Rev. Dr. LIVINGSTON lived here in 1794; it was razed. Across Waverley Avenue which has since been closed, stood on the corner the Abraham VANDERVEER stone farmhouse. At Beverley Road, with its gable end to the road, stood a house erected in 1803 by Dominie SHOONMAKER of lumber taken from the old court house, which had been pulled down in 1792; it was removed in 1895 for the opening of a street. On the left side of the road, near Tilden Avenue, stood the VAN BEUREN homestead, later known as the Jacob DURYEA house. The surrounding ground and the structure were purchased by the Brooklyn City Rail Road, which erected its horse car depot here. The Cornelius DURYEA house, a large building standing on the Canarsie Lane, has been razed. At Cortelyou Road, on the right side of the Ferry Road, stood the house of Jeremiah LOTT, who surveyed and mapped Brooklyn Village; it was taken down about 1893. The SUYDAM house was a long low building, its second story being without windows. Andrew SUYDAM'S daughter married John DITMAS and the house became known as the DITMAS-SUYDAM house; it was taken down. The Henry J. DITMAS house was built with its gable end to the road, about 1800. Further south stood the DITMAS homestead, built of stone. The ALLEGO house stood at the extreme southern end of Flatbush upon what was called the little flat, in the 18th century. On the left side of the road and opposite the SUYDAM house stood the VANDERVEER homestead, erected in 1787 and razed in 1910. The house of Dominie Vincentius ANTONIDE'S nearby, was used by the British as a hospital; it was taken down in the 1870's. We have now reached the Flatlands townline. A half century ago there were, on the left side of the Ferry Road, the J. A. LOTT house; the P. D. BAUN and J. C. RYDER houses on the right side. Further along on the left the J. WYCKOFF house and the J. H. VAN BRUNT house; The A. H. HUBBARD house on the right; The G. W. BAXTER house on the left; The G. H. SHAFFER. V. K. STEPHENSON and W. BRUSH houses all on the right side. The VAN SINDEREN homestead on Hubbard's Lane near the road on the left side, was built in 1746 by Dominie Ulpianus VAN SINDEREN. ONDERDONK describes this worthy man as a lean and shriveled little man with a triangular shaped hat and silver locks, which streamed like a meteor flowing to the troubled air as he whisked along with great velocity in his chaise through Flatbush. He now sleeps peacefully in the Flatlands graveyard, his tombstone bearing this inscription: "Hier leyt het Liechaem van den Wel-Eerwaerde Heer Ulpianus VAN SINDEREN in zyn leeven Predicant in Kings County, Overleeden den 23 July, 1796, oud Zynde 88 Jaeren, 7 maanden en 12 daegen." We are now on the church plot, which extends from the left side of the road to the Flatlands Neck Road. The schoolhouse is on the Flatbush Road, the church on the Neck Road. The first church edifice was erected in 1663, the bell was installed in 1686; this edifice was enlarged in 1762. A second edifice was erected on this site in 1794, a third one on the same site in 1848. It was somewhat damaged by fire in 1917. A lecture room was built near the church in 1853. The first schoolhouse was not standing near the church, but about 1699 a new schoolhouse was erected, probably in an unused part of the burial ground; this one was repaired in 1792; a third one was erected in 1818, and a fourth one in 1861, which was enlarged in 1876. The first record of the school is of 1675. The burial ground includes the Indian burial plot on the northwest, the churchyard proper on the west, the De BAUN and TERHUNE family burial places on the southwest, the latter being both used since 1696, and the public burial ground purchased by the town of Flatlands in 1886. We have now reached what is still called the Kings Highway, being a part of the Kings Highway laid out by the Commission which Gov. CORNBURY appointed in 1704. HENDRICKSON'S Store on the corner was a place of importance for the town; the Town Council used to hold its sessions here, and the Courts were held in the cellar of this building. Flatbush Avenue having been extended to Jamaica Bay, the road passes near Avenue P within a short distance from the Jeromus LOTT house. This house built of Holland brick and painted white, was the home of Jeromus LOTT, son of Col. Jeromus LOTT of Revolutionary times. The first pier on Jamaica Bay, constructed in accordance with the Jamaica Bay Improvement plan, at what is, at the present day, the end of Flatbush Avenue, was opened for business on June 1st, 1918. Some day the waves of the Atlantic Ocean will dash against this extension of the old Ferry Road.Back To FERRY ROAD Main Back To TOWN Main Return to BROOKLYN Info Main Page