New York City’s Lost Canals | Episode 264

PAST PROGRAM | Virtual Programs

While New York City sat at the nexus of many important canals built in the 19th century — the Erie, Morris, and Delaware & Raritan among them — the city had its own internal network of lesser-known canals, some filled in, some never built, and some still with us today. As part of our ongoing virtual program series on canals, we will examine the ambitious schemes from the 17th century onward to connect the city’s bays and streams, from the Heere Graft of New Amsterdam to the Wallabout Canal of Brooklyn.

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Breuckelen: Stories of Brooklyn’s Dutch History and Heritage | Episode 148

PAST PROGRAM | Virtual Programs

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.

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Virtual Visit to the 1661 Bowne House in Flushing, Queens | Episode 53

PAST PROGRAM | Virtual Programs

Join us on a virtual exploration of the Bowne House (ca. 1661), the oldest building in Queens and second-oldest in New York State. Built by John Bowne, a Quaker who emigrated from England and eventually settled in Flushing, his fight for religious freedom was an important moment in American history that laid down principles later codified in the Bill of Rights. Now a museum, we will explore the house with a docent and its live-in caretaker, who will share stories of the house and its occupants from 1661 to 1945, when ownership of the private home transitioned from John Bowne’s descendants to the Bowne House Historical Society.

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Virtual Visit to the 1661 Bowne House in Flushing, Queens | Episode 53

PAST PROGRAM | Virtual Programs

Join us on a virtual exploration of the Bowne House (ca. 1661), the oldest building in Queens and second-oldest in New York State. Built by John Bowne, a Quaker who emigrated from England and eventually settled in Flushing, his fight for religious freedom was an important moment in American history that laid down principles later codified in the Bill of Rights. Now a museum, we will explore the house with a docent and its live-in caretaker, who will share stories of the house and its occupants from 1661 to 1945, when ownership of the private home transitioned from John Bowne’s descendants to the Bowne House Historical Society.

>> Continue reading