R A M B L E S
ABOUT
HISTORIC BROOKLYN
A Collection of the Facts, Legends, Traditions and 
Reminiscences that Time has gathered 
about the Historic Homesteads and 
Landmarks of Brooklyn

Printed for the 
Brooklyn Trust Company
Brooklyn, N.Y.
1916


WHEN BREUCKELEN WAS YOUNG

	The first step in the settlement of Brooklyn was made in the year 1636, 
when William Adrianense BENNETT and Jaques BENTYN bought from
the Indians 930 acres of land at "Gowanus." 
	About a year later George Jansen de RAPELJE bought a piece of land 
near the Wallabout Bay. De RAPELJE was a farmer. He tilled the land 
and occupied a house on it until 1654. Tradition says his daughter Sarah
was the first white child born on Long Island; and that she was held
in great esteem by both by the Dutch and the Indians. This assertion
has been modified by later historians, who say that Sarah de Rapelje,
was the first female white child born in the New Netherlands colony.

	Cabins. were built on the Long Island. shore, and eventually 
communication:was established with Manhattan by one Cornelis DIRCKSEN; 
who, having. the advantage of holding land on both sides of the river, 
conducted a ferry between the two places. He was summoned by means
of a horn that hung on a convenient tree, ready for the traveller
to blow when he wished to cross. The "Ferry" on the Long Island
shore later became the popular resort for the .settlers. A road led 
from it to the Heights where the village of Breuckelen was thriving,
which was supposed to have received its name from. the Dutch, and
means "broken land." It clustered close about the site of the present
City Hall, and followed the course of Fulton Street, which no doubt 
was originally an Indian trail.


Breuckelen passed through Indian troubles and through the tyranny.
of the regime of Director-General William. KIEFT, then into the 
administartion of Peter STUYVESANT, who arrived in 1647, conspicuous
for having one leg, the other having been lost in the wars and 
replaced with a wooden one, ostensibly laced with silver bands. He 
probably made an impression when he arrived, and the opinions formed 
of him were not exactly in his favor; for somebody, in watching the 
excited, soldierly old fellow remarked that his stride was "like a 
peacock's, with great pomp and state," and complained that he kept 
the burghers bareheaded for several hours, though his own head was covered,
"as if he were the Czar of Muscovy."	.


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