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February 21, 2004 18:38:51
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History of Gravesend
From the Saxon words, grafes, meaning groves, and ende, meaning end, it is the one original English town in Brooklyn. It originally included the communities of what are now Kings Highway, Sheepshead Bay, Gerritsen Beach, Sea Gate, Coney Island, Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach. Gravesend is triangular in shape. To the north is Foster Avenue and East 17 St. On the west it runs through Bay Parkway to 78 Street, then south to Bay 37 Street & Gravesend Bay. On the east it extends to Avenue L on East 17 Street, then over to Olean Street, running southeast to Fillmore Avenue and Madison Place at the beginning of Marine Park at the head of Gerritsen Bay. Its southern boundary is the Atlantic Ocean. Noblewoman, Lady Deborah Moody, came from England to the colony at Lynn, Massachusetts where she was shunned for her political and religious views. In 1643 she arrived in the Dutch province of New Amsterdam. She and her following were granted refuge and issued a charter for the establishment of a town. She named the town after her estate in Kent, England, thus Gravesend came to be. In 1645 she received the charter for Gravesend. This charter was unique in many ways. Lady Moody was the first woman in the New World ever granted a charter; it was the only charter written in English (the others were written in Dutch); it allowed her and her followers absolute freedom of conscience, in addition to granting religious freedom within its confines, well before this liberty was granted to all of Dutch America via the Flatbush Remonstrance in 1657; it allowed her to set up her own government and hold town meetings. She then divided the land into four equal squares, with a common yard to each, apportioning the land like slices of pie to her followers and making her home at 27 Gravesend Neck Road. Lady Moody died in the 1650s.
Infiltrated by British troops landing on its shores, Gravesend played a major role in the Revolutionary War.
The 1800s saw Gravesend prosper, due in large part to the attraction of Coney Island. Area development boomed, prompting investment and exploitation, in addition to sheer enjoyment. Ocean Parkway, still a major thoroughfare today, was built in 1880. The inception of the Sea Beach and Culver rail lines reduced travel time to Manhattan, prompting further residential development for the working middle class. Gravesend was annexed to the City of Brooklyn in 1894.
Gravesend housed the first film Studio in America, Vitagraph Studios, located on East 15 and Locust Avenue. Many silent movies were filmed there, using the shores of Coney Island for desert scenes. With the advent of the "talkies", the clamor of the trains and trolleys brought the studio to its end.
Today, Gravesend is primarily a working class community, comprised of residential properties, with many business districts dispersed throughout the area.
Served by Community District 15
Zip Code: 11229
Claims to Fame:
A memorial dedicated to Lady Moody stands at Lady Moody Square (Avenue U & Gravesend Neck Road).
Graveyard on Gravesend Neck Road (between McDonald Avenue and Van Sicklen Street) is the burial stie of Lady Moody and other period figures.
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