In 1636, the first European settler, Willem Adriaensen Benet, was granted title to land in what is today Brooklyn. Though Dutch rule over the colony would last only 30 years, Dutch culture and language would persist in Brooklyn for well over 200 years. In this conversation with journalist and amateur genealogist Sarah Crean, who worked as a researcher for the Brooklyn Historical Society (now the Center for Brooklyn History) and has written extensively about Brooklyn’s history for Bklyner, we will examine some of this landmarks and institutions where the legacy of Brooklyn’s Dutch heritage can still be seen today.
- Jasper Danckaerts (1680), Journal of a Voyage to New York, and a Tour in Several of the American Colonies in 1679-80
- Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt (1881), The Social History of Flatbush and Manners and Customs of the Dutch Settlers in Kings County
- Henry Reed Stiles (1867), A History of the City of Brooklyn
