Like many of you, we at Urban Oyster had a busy holiday season that did not end with the New Year. In recognition of the incredible support we have received from Most Holy Trinity-St. Mary parish in Williamsburg and Father Timothy Dore, we decided to do a pair of special holiday tours of the church. We held the tours on December 20 and January 10, and we had over 40 visitors, including many members of the congregation, and a few people who had traced their ancestral roots several generations back to the church and its early German parishioners.
The church has an incredibly rich history that is intricately tied to the various immigrant communities that have called this neighborhood home over the past 150 years. Most Holy Trinity church, opened in 1885, is a spectacular building that was beautifully decorated for the Christmas season. Tour participants got to hear Father Timothy tell the story of the parish's beginning as a small, wooden church in 1841, and learn about the origins of Christmas traditions and their connections to saints depicted in the church's windows and statues. We also got to climb 70 feet up the church tower and descend into the crypt where the parish's founder is buried. After the tours, we enjoyed refreshments in the rectory basement, which has been modeled after a traditional German Rathskeller.
The church has an incredibly rich history that is intricately tied to the various immigrant communities that have called this neighborhood home over the past 150 years. Most Holy Trinity church, opened in 1885, is a spectacular building that was beautifully decorated for the Christmas season. Tour participants got to hear Father Timothy tell the story of the parish's beginning as a small, wooden church in 1841, and learn about the origins of Christmas traditions and their connections to saints depicted in the church's windows and statues. We also got to climb 70 feet up the church tower and descend into the crypt where the parish's founder is buried. After the tours, we enjoyed refreshments in the rectory basement, which has been modeled after a traditional German Rathskeller.
Proceeds from this tour went to Trinity Human Service Center, a non-sectarian, not-for-profit organization that provides educational and social services as well as food and clothing to the needy in Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick. We would just like to thank Most Holy Trinity-St. Mary for all of their help and support getting Urban Oyster off the ground, and we would also like to thank all the tour participants for their generous contributions to this important charity.
We did not just spend our holidays working, however; we took some time to enjoy many sights across the city, including the usual suspects (our families were visiting from out of town). Though it's a bit late to see them this year, you can add some of these places to your list of holiday activities for next year – remember, Christmas is just eleven and a half months away!
If you think your neighborhood goes crazy with the Christmas lights, you should take a drive over to Dyker Heights. These people do not mess around. Nearly every house has at least a modest sleigh and reindeer; the serious Christmas displays roll out twelve-foot Santa statues, rotating toy soldier carousels, and enough lights to misdirect incoming flights to JFK. One house even hired a real Santa to sit in the front lawn and accept children's gift requests. So as you take down your own Christmas lights this month, you better start thinking of ways to improve your decorations if you want to compete. One serious contender for the electrical consumption title is our neighborhood parish, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Windsor Terrace, which still has up its impressive display of lighted trees and angels.
Though it's available year round, one of our special Christmas treats this year was a trip to Di Fara Pizza in Midwood, Brooklyn. I'm a native of New Haven, Connecticut and a life-long adherent of Frank Pepe's, but I will say this, publicly, on the Internet: Di Fara's is the best pizza I have ever tasted. Each pie is handmade by the owner, Dominic DeMarco, so get there as soon as they open or you will have to wait a while (okay, there's one caveat – Pepe's clam pizza is still my favorite pizza of all time, and Di Fara's does not make a clam pizza, but if they did, I'm sure it would be spectacular).
We did not just spend our holidays working, however; we took some time to enjoy many sights across the city, including the usual suspects (our families were visiting from out of town). Though it's a bit late to see them this year, you can add some of these places to your list of holiday activities for next year – remember, Christmas is just eleven and a half months away!
If you think your neighborhood goes crazy with the Christmas lights, you should take a drive over to Dyker Heights. These people do not mess around. Nearly every house has at least a modest sleigh and reindeer; the serious Christmas displays roll out twelve-foot Santa statues, rotating toy soldier carousels, and enough lights to misdirect incoming flights to JFK. One house even hired a real Santa to sit in the front lawn and accept children's gift requests. So as you take down your own Christmas lights this month, you better start thinking of ways to improve your decorations if you want to compete. One serious contender for the electrical consumption title is our neighborhood parish, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Windsor Terrace, which still has up its impressive display of lighted trees and angels.
Though it's available year round, one of our special Christmas treats this year was a trip to Di Fara Pizza in Midwood, Brooklyn. I'm a native of New Haven, Connecticut and a life-long adherent of Frank Pepe's, but I will say this, publicly, on the Internet: Di Fara's is the best pizza I have ever tasted. Each pie is handmade by the owner, Dominic DeMarco, so get there as soon as they open or you will have to wait a while (okay, there's one caveat – Pepe's clam pizza is still my favorite pizza of all time, and Di Fara's does not make a clam pizza, but if they did, I'm sure it would be spectacular).
According to the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church, Christmas and the New Year come 13 days later than in the West, so we decided to celebrate these belated holidays the traditional way – by going to the Russian Baths in Gravesend. We have been to nearly every bath house in the city, and this is our favorite one so far (despite what that review might say) – the banya is hot, the food is excellent, and the place is decorated with Russian hockey memorabilia. I can't think of a better combination than a schvitz, some pickled herring and a hockey game. This was our Urban Oyster end-of-year celebration to mark the end of one successful year and the beginning of new challenges in the next.
We hope you had a restful holiday, and join us on our upcoming tours. Our next Brewed in Brooklyn tour will be a special Valentine's Day tour on Saturday, February 13. Regular tours will resume in March, as will the Brooklyn Navy Yard Tour, dates for which will be posted soon. We will also be launching new tours throughout the spring and summer, so stay tuned for more details.
For questions or comments about this blog post, please contact andrewg@urbanoyster.com.
We hope you had a restful holiday, and join us on our upcoming tours. Our next Brewed in Brooklyn tour will be a special Valentine's Day tour on Saturday, February 13. Regular tours will resume in March, as will the Brooklyn Navy Yard Tour, dates for which will be posted soon. We will also be launching new tours throughout the spring and summer, so stay tuned for more details.
For questions or comments about this blog post, please contact andrewg@urbanoyster.com.
