(Originally sent out to newsletter subscribers July 2, 2009. To subscribe to our newsletter, click here.)

We're in the Navy Now! 

Well, not quite, but Urban Oyster is in the Brooklyn Navy Yard doing tours on behalf of the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation.  Surrounded by fences and walls since the 1820s, the Navy Yard has long carried with it an alluring mystery to many New Yorkers.  One of New York City’s greatest hidden treasures, this 300-acre property on Brooklyn's waterfront has an amazing history of building and outfitting some of America’s most famous ships, from the commissioning of the Monitor, a Civil War-era ironclad; to the Maine, immortalized during the Spanish-American War; the Arizona, now a memorial in Pearl Harbor; and the Missouri on board which the Japanese signed unconditional surrender at the end of the war.  From the 1830’s Naval Hospital to the oral histories of World War II, our tour of the Navy Yard tells a story about wartime efforts dating all the way back to the Revolutionary War. 





Picture
'USS NEW MEXICO IN DD 4 PORT SIDE LOOKING AFT,' Jan. 1918 - Courtesy of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, Photo No. n3478 Brooklyn Navy Yard Archive - courtesy National Archive and Records Administration, Northeast Region - NYC, Record Group 181
The Brooklyn Navy Yard today is just as much a story of the future, as it is of the past.  After the Navy de-commissioned the yard in 1966, the property was sold to the City of New York and has functioned as an industrial park ever since. Today it is home to some of the most fascinating and innovative companies in the country.  Duggal Visual Solutions is one such example.  A long-time producer of large-scale photos like the billboards in Times Square, Duggal has recently broken into developing renewable sources of energy and uses the yard as a laboratory to test out new technologies, such as solar- and wind-powered streetlights.  Visitors may also be familiar with Sweet n’ Low, a product that was originally produced just outside the gates of the Navy Yard and is still manufactured there today.  Finally, the Navy Yard seeks to attract green companies and construct LEED certified industrial buildings, making it a center of sustainable industries in New York City.  You can learn more about their green efforts here.

Our tours will take you into the Navy Yard by bus, and at hop off
stops we will explore these stories and the dozens more contained
within its walls.  Check out our tour schedule here.

 


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