Existing comment:
The Atlantic Basin
By the late 1860s, the six-mile stretch of Brooklyn's waterfront between Greenpoint on the north and Red Hook on the south was solidly lined with docks and warehouses. Here merchant ships from around the world came to trade fruit, sugar, tea and other goods for American products. Brooklyn's oldest shipping facility is the Atlantic Basin, in Red Hook which dates from 1841. Originally, the 40-acre protected basin served as the end destination for boats that brought grain from the Midwest via the Erie Canal and the Hudson River. On the wharves that edged the basin, the grain was cleaned, sorted and loaded onto ships for export. Although its days as a grain depot are long gone, the Atlantic Basin remains an active maritime facility. |