Make Gowanus Great Again: research notes for the Restoration of a 1776 Battle Mill

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ARCHAEOLOGY COMMUNITY DISCUSSION NOTES

Prepared by Eymund Diegel December 2016 eymund at gmail.com

THE GOWANUS CANAL FIRST STREET BASIN’S SUPERFUND SITE IS AMERICA’S FIRST BATTLE GROUND WHAT RESEARCH IS AVAILABLE ? WHAT WILL THIS MEAN FOR DESIGN & PUBLIC ACCESS ?

DENTON’S MILL (OR FREEKE’S / LOWER MILL)

BATTLE SITE

27 AUGUST 1776 – THE BATTLE OF BROOKLYN – painted by Alonzo Chappel - 1858


http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/battle-brooklyn

DISCOVER THE STORY OF YOUR BACK YARD


AMERICA’S FIRST BATTLEFIELD SITE PURCHASED FOR $ 73 MILLION BY TRUMP’S SON IN LAW TO BUILD CONDOS ON AMERICA’S FIRST VETERANS CEMETERY

225 3RD ST SITE AT THE GOWANUS CANAL


https://www.nps.gov/abpp/

http://www.dpaa.mil/

SHOULD AMERICA’S FIRST BATTLE FIELD SITE BE PRESERVED ?

SHOULD AMERICA’S FIRST VETERANS BE FOUND AND HONORED ?


WHAT RESEARCH HAS THE SUPERFUND ARCHAEOLOGY COMMITTEE BEEN DOING ? Studying detailed sites identified in the Superfund Team Hunter Research Archaeological Report Working with local schools to explore archaeological opportunities of Canal

https://quicksilver.epa.gov/work/02/122511.pdf

As the Remediation Process moves into the physical stage..

24 October 2016 – The Gowanus Canal Superfund Cleanup starts... Drew Angerer

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE DISCUSSION ISSUES THAT SHOULD BE STUDIED FURTHER ? Lutzen Germany - Military mass grave excavated in 2012 during a supermarket construction. The bodies are from the 1632 Thirty Year War Der Spiegel

• COMPREHENSIVE VISION • BATTLE COMMEMORATION • PUBLIC ACCESS PLAN

1781 Harbor Survey Map showing burial sites scattered around Gowanus Superfund Battle Site New York Historical Society


2014 - Brooklyn New School students studying Battle of Brooklyn geography photo by Ecorama


2011 Research Report by Superfund team established detailed areas for further community investigation…

Superfund Remedial Investigation - Hunter Research’s Archaeological Summary

MAIN HISTORIC SENSITIVITY AREAS – TIDAL MILL BATTLE SITES


How should we commemorate the 1776 Battle as the First Street Basin Restoration moves into the Design Stage ?

The buried 1st Street Basin

Battle of Brooklyn

Superfund Remedial Investigation Hunter Research’s Archaeological Summary


Where was main Battle Site of concern ?

1776 Battle of Brooklyn Site Approximate Location The buried 1st Street Basin


Battle of Brooklyn Sites dlandstudio / Gowanus Canal Conservancy SPONGE PARK PLAN

HISTORIC 1776 WAR OF INDEPENDENCE SITES

Brouwer’s Mill Bridge

Battle Site & Historic Dam

Denton’s Mill Battle Site Battle Site /Potential Second Burial Ground

1776 OLD STONE HOUSE BATTLE

Path to Freedom Study Area

Presumed 1776 Grave Locations

Veterans Monument

Marylander’s Burial Ground https://issuu.com/proteusgowanus/docs/0_2014_marylander_park_proposal_dra

for discussion

Potential Alternative Burial Ground

Old Stone House Battle Site

Original Stone House location

Old Stone House Battle Site


1766 RATZER MAP WITH 2016 STREETS BROUWER’S MILL BRIDGE

FIRST STREET BASIN SUPERFUND SITE

COLES MILL (BUILT 1770’S)

DENTON’S POND MILL DAM

Historical issues affecting planning & restoration design


FIRST STREET BASIN SUPERFUND SITE


Old Stone House Museum

FIRST STREET BASIN SUPERFUND REMEDIATION SITE

Battle of Brooklyn Sites

EVACUATION ROUTE

HOW DID AMERICAN TROOPS RETREAT ? BLOCKED BY ENGLISH

AMERICAN MARYLANDER TROOPS

BLOCKED BY HESSIANS


11 AM, 27 AUGUST 1776

Alonzo Chappel - 1858

AMERICAN TROOPS ENTERING VECHTE’S BROOK TO GET TO MILL DAM ESCAPE ROUTE


BURNT BROUWER’S BRIDGE DENTON’S TIDE MILL BATTLE SITE DAM TIDAL MARSHES

GOWANUS CREEK

OLD STONE HOUSE BATTLE SITE

Charles Blaskowitz – 1777 Map of the Battle of Brooklyn - Boston Public Library


6 AM – 27 AUGUST 1776

11 AM – 27 AUGUST 1776

THE TIDE IS LOW WHEN BATTLE OF BROOKLYN STARTS

THE TIDE IS HIGH WHEN AMERICAN TROOPS START RETREATING … DID THEY ALL SWIM ?

THE SALT MARSHES ARE DRY

Henry P. Johnston 1776 –Plan of the Battle of Long Island and the Brooklyn Defenses, Julies Bien Cartographer, 1878


ANOTHER ESCAPE POSIBILITY… John Rubens Smith – 1817 - Gowanus Road looking towards Denton's Pond - Guann's near Fort Swift, Brooklyn US Library of Congress (Note: Fort Swift was a War of 1812 fort and was on hill behind sail boat. The site is now Trader Joe’s)


THE MILL DAM

ANOTHER ESCAPE POSIBILITY… https://www.loc.gov/item/2011645495/


Bergen Hill

Bergen Home

Staat's Home

Denton Home

Denton’s Mill

Fort Swift War of 1812 (behind sails)

John Rubens Smith

1817 View of Denton’s Mill Pond and Dam

Gowanus Road

1847 view of Brouwer’s Mill (Charles Parson) (note: both tide mills rebuilt after 1776 War of Independence) Denton's Pond circa 1865 (James Ryder Van Brunt)

MILL DAM

Vechte / Cortelyou (Old Stone) House

Brooklyn Historical Society

4th Avenue & 7th Street

THE ARTIST Staat's House

Schoonmaker House

View of Denton’s Pond Mill dam circa 1860s from Park Slope (Brooklyn Historical Society)


A DIFFICULT RETREAT PATH

1776 BATTLE OF BROOKLYN JOHNSTON MAP


DRY MILL DAM PROVIDED MOST LIKELY RETREAT PATH NOT MARSHES COVERED BY 6 TO 20 FEET OF WATER


3D BATTLE OF BROOKLYN RECONSTRUCTION Flatbush Road American Fortifications

ESCAPE ROUTE OF MAIN AMERICAN TROOPS

American Camp

Brouwer's Mill Old Stone House

PORT ROAD

First Street Basin

Gowanus Creek

GOWANUS ROAD

Denton's Mill

ESCAPE ROUTE OF MARYLANDER 2014 - THOMAS PEYTON TROOPS With Diegel 1776 Mill adjustment


”The Americans.. came to the marsh [and a stone house], where [the main force] were obliged to break their order, and escape as quick as they could to the edge of the creek, under a brisk fire… During this interval, the main force retreated from our left into a marsh.” Mordecai Gist, Major General with Marylander Regiment, during the Battle of Old Stone House, 27 August 1776 As quoted in Washington’s Immortals, the Untold Story of an Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolution By Patrick K. O’Donnell, 2016 www.patrickkodonnell.com

http://www.campaign1776.org/revolutionary-war/articles/mordecai-gist/


FREEDOM’S PATH: VECHTE’S BROOK TODAY ( UNDER 3 AVE BRIDGE )


VECHTE’S BROOK

1776 AMERICAN SOLDIERS CROSSING CREEK TO GET TO MILL DAM ESCAPE ROUTE

FREEDOM PATH WHOLE FOODS SITE

BATTLE DAM

1766 Ratzer Map of Battle Mill Dam site

2011 Balloon Aerial of Battle Mill Dam site


WHOLE FOODS SITE

BATTLE DAM

KUSHNER SITE


1766 RATZER MAP SHOWING DENTONS MILL BATTLE ISLAND

BATTLE DAM GOWANUS CANAL SOURCE:

KUSHNER SITE

https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-f437-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99


AMERICA’S FIRST SOLDIERS DIED HERE

BATTLE DAM


BATTLE DAM

27 AUGUST 1776 – THE BATTLE OF BROOKLYN – painted by Alonzo Chappel - 1858


Battle Mill

BATTLE DAM

31 July 2011 Gowanus Canal Conservancy / Public Lab Balloon Aerial


Battle Mill

HONOR OUR VETERANS

Burial Island Battle Dam

SUPPORT THE AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD PROTECTION PROGRAM


BATTLE MILL

BATTLE DAM New York Public Library Map Division

http://maps.nypl.org/warper/maps/11840#Export_tab

1880 Hopkins Wards Map showing the Denton’s Mill 1776 Dam Battleground Site. The bulge shows the Denton’s Mill Island mentioned as the soldier’s burial ground by 1909 Old Stone House Historian Georgia Fraser. The dam was gradually landfilled from 1865 onwards to make way for the East India / Gowanus Chemical Works (later HJ Baker Chemicals, makers of gunpowder and fertilizers). The mill dam was used as a footpath until the 1870s, and survives buried under about 3 to 4 feet of fill


BATTLE MILL

BATTLE DAM Proposed “Freedom’s Path” 1776 Battle Dam Commemoration Site This escape route was used by the survivors of the Maryland Regiment after their heroic actions allowed the Continental Army to retreat and fight another day. It was the highest casualty battleground of the 1776 War of Independence. It merits commemoration under the American Battlefield Protection Program through the construction of a public walkway and Commemorative Park 2014 Aerial, New York City Base Map, with Freedom’s Path Battle Dam overlay from 1880 Hopkins Wards Map (New York Public Library)


1880 Hopkins Map

1766 Ratzer Map with 1880 Hopkins Battle Dam Overlay

2014 aerial with 1880 Hopkins Battle Dam Overlay

REFERENCE MAPS Proposed “Freedom’s Path” 1776 Battle Dam Commemoration Site


HOW CAN WE COMMEMORATE THESE HISTORIC BATTLEFIELD EVENTS AS PART OF THE RESTORATION OF THE GOWANUS CANAL? PARK AT LOW TIDE

AMERICA’S PATH TO FREEDOM CONCEPT

PARK AT HIGH TIDE TIDE

NEW PUBLIC GREENWAY

ATE ATEMA FIRST STREET TIDE PARK CONCEPT


1905 (circa) The Red Hook Boat Morgue by Jenny Young Chandler, showing Salt Hay (Spartina) root mat remnants (highlighted in green) similar to the Freedom’s Path Battle Dam and Island where 1776 bodies were buried


COMMEMORATIVE VISUAL REFERENCES Marsh Grass (2012) by artist Jessica Dalrymple

Conditions on the Ground (2013) by artist Christina Kelly

http://www.discobikini.com/2013 /05/04/conditions-on-the-ground2/#more-1440


1 ST BASIN WHOLE FOODS

AMPLE HILLS ICE CREAM

NEW PUBLIC GREENWAY

ESCAPE ROUTE OF MARYLANDER TROOPS

OLD STONE HOUSE

PUBLIC SCHOOL

RELOCATED

1776 OLD STONE HOUSE


Battle Site

PROPOSED FREEDOM PATH GREENWAY

RESTORED FOURTH STREET BASIN

NEVINS STREET LINK

FIRST STREET RIGHT OF WAY

2016 - source: www.nearmap.com


Original Denton’s spring site

Water tunnel entry point

Remnant of old spring making plants grow

31 JULY 2011 “OVER MY DEAD BODY” BALLOON AERIAL (via GLAM / PUBLIC LAB)

29 November 2014 eymund@gmail research notes

Burials ?

Potential tunnel entry point by Gowanus Dredgers canoe (dangerous – loose rocks)

RUMORED 1776 BURIAL GROUND

Elevation of site is +/- 17 feet above mean sea level. If historical 1776 island was between 6 and 8 feet above mean sea level (to be above tidal flood lines) then grave remnants (if any) are +/- 12 to 14 feet down. This makes tunnel floor (at +/- 10 feet above water line) most promising archaeological excavation area


1776 GHOST MILL MEMORIAL For America’s First Veterans Cemetery / 1776 Environmental Education Center

The New Neighbors • Jared Kushner paid $73 million for site • Father in Law supports Patriotism

THE PATH TO FREEDOM

Jeff Kravitz

Andrew Harnik

REMEMBER OUR VETERANS 2013 Aerial by Sean Groszkowski

CONCEPT: MAKE GOWANUS GREAT AGAIN

REBUILD THE HISTORIC 1776 BATTLE MILL SITE & FREEDOM PATH ON OLD MILL DAM TO 4TH AVE

DRAFT FIRST STREET BASIN THOUGHT NOTES eymund at gmail.com DECEMBER 2016


DOCKS ? CONNECTIONS ? WATER MILL ? CLASSROOM ? CONNECTIONS ?

MEMORIAL BRIDGE ?

PLAYGROUND ?

WETLAND ? CONNECTIONS ?

2013 Aerial by Sean Groszkowski

WHAT SHOULD THE RESTORED FIRST STREET BASIN LOOK LIKE ?


INSPIRATION: FRANKLIN MEMORIAL PHILADELPHIA


LOCAL INSPIRATION: GOWANUS ART LAB


Gowanus Canal Superfund Site

Surviving area of island with possible 1776 battle casualties grave relics

OVERLAYS OF COMMUNITY MEMORIES ON 2011 GLAM / PUBLIC LAB GRASSROOTS AERIAL / GOOGLE AERIAL

Live Spring Denton or Freeke’s Mill

Original Tidal Mill Dam

What Questions does this community research raise ? What Actions should we take ?


WHAT ABOUT THE BODIES? FIRST STREET BASIN

POWERHOUSE ARTS CENTER SITE

SUSPECTED 1776 BURIAL SITE 2013 Aerial by Sean Groszkowski Skull by David Tennant

KUSHNER SITE


A history of burials..


Native 1776 Marsh Soils are at roughly 7 feet elevation (Mean Sea Level) Current Site Elevation is around 17 feet

15 October 2016 NearMap Aerial shows excavations in suspected Archaeological area – SHOULD DEEPER DIG SURVEY HAPPEN ?


A BATTLE WITH MULTIPLE CASUALTIES HAPPENED ON THE THIS SITE IN 1776 FIRST STREET BASIN SITE

POWERHOUSE ARTS CENTER SITE

IT IS ARCHAEOLOGICALLY SENSITIVE 27 AUGUST 1776 – THE BATTLE OF BROOKLYN – painted by Alonzo Chappel - 1858

KUSHNER SITE


THE SITE WAS RAPIDLY LANDFILLED WITH BETWEEN 10 AND 20 FEET OF FILL DURING 1870’S

SUSPECTED 1776 BURIAL SITE

THIS LANDFILL COVERED MANY 1776 BATTLE ARTIFACTS


HOW DO WE GET THERE ?

FIRST STREET BASIN

PROMOTING PUBLIC ACCESS TO PUBLIC WATERS

GOWANUS DREDGERS CANOE CLUB WATER ACCESS PROGRAM


CARROLL STREET CANAL SIDE PUBLIC RIGHT OF WAY

PROMOTING PUBLIC RIGHT OF WAYS ON PUBLIC LANDS GOWANUS DREDGERS CANOE CLUB WATER TESTING SCIENCE PROGRAMS


LEGAL PUBLIC RIGHT OF WAYS (NYC DEPT OF CITY PLANNING 2016)

PUBLIC SCHOOL

SCHOOL

THIRD AVE PUBLIC ACCESS

FIRST STREET RIGHT OF WAY


FIRST STREET BASIN PUBLIC RIGHT OF WAY

1886 Sanborn Map


Lets not Drain the Swamp.. Lets rebuild it greener..

Lets Build the 1776 Battle Memorial and the Path to Freedom

What do YOU think ?


"Aye, this is the ground, My blind eyes even as I speak behold it re-peopled from graves, The years recede, pavements and stately houses disappear, Rude forts appear again, the old hoop’d guns are mounted, I see the lines of rais’d earth stretching from river to bay, I mark the vista of waters, I mark the uplands and slopes; Here we lay encamp’d, it was this time in summer also." (a conversation between a Revolutionary War veteran and a young Union Army volunteer in the first year of the Civil War. Soldiers drill on a bright day in Fort Greene Park, and the veteran suddenly remembers the real fighting he took part in eighty-five years earlier on the same hills) Walt Whitman "The Centenarian's Story", Leaves of Grass, 1900 as quoted in Barnet Schecter's "The Battle for New York" 2010


These Battle notes, along with other historical research documents are available at the Proteus Hall of the Gowanus archive https://issuu.com/proteusgowanus

Proteus Gowanus (now Proteus Cumulus) is a collection of digital memories useful for planning the future of our neighborhood

You can find out more about the Gowanus Canal’s Battle History at the New York Historical Society

http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/battle-brooklyn

Darby’s Patch Tom Boy Gowanus, Brooklyn, circa 1900 photo by Jenny Young Chandler From the Hall of the Gowanus Archive Darby’s Patch was the squatter settlement and later tenement housing that was built on top of the Denton Pond’s garbage dump that landfilled the Revolutionary War mill pond

Find out more about the Gowanus Superfund Site: http://gowanuscag.org/

contact eymund @ gmail.com for map data in these notes for your own research


This has become the archaeologist’s grandiose task: to make dried-up wellsprings bubble forth again, to make the forgotten known again, the dead alive, and to cause to flow once more the historic streams in which we are all encompassed, whether we live in Brooklyn or Montparnasse, Berlin-Neukölln or Santiago de Chile, Athens or Miami. This stream is the great human community of the Western world which for five thousand years has swum with the same flood tide, under different flags, but guided by the same constellations.

On this account archaeology is everybody’s concern and is not in the least an esoteric special branch of science. When we busy ourselves with archaeology, life as a whole has become our subject. For life is not an occasional affair, but a constant balancing on the point of intersection where past and future meet. Leonard Woolley, “The Ideal Archaeologist” as quoted on CW Ceram, “God’s Graves and Scholars, The Story of Archaeology, New York, 1968


The Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science www.publiclab.org


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