This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Red Hook's Pointers and Creekers Clash in Old Wastelands
In Red Hook east of Dwight Street during much of the 19th century, marshes and dumps defined the landscape until junkmen built shanties. The Pointers and Creekers, split by a tidal creek, lived on opposite sides and fought in schoolyard battles, while canalers and families endured harsh living. By the 1920s the area filled in and shanties vanished, revealing shared struggles over garbage, smoke, and poverty.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Red Hook
Dwight Street
William Beard
Columbia Street
Tinkerville
Dutchtown
Texas
Pig Hollow
Twelfth Ward
van Dyke Mill Pond
Red Hook Point
Erie Basin