Update: More Information On Old Red Hook/Yellow Hook Map

1837 U.S. Coast Survey Map



old map I posted on November 17th

I can always count on Carroll Gardens friend Rick to point me in the right direction when I have a question about the neighborhood's history.
Rick sent me the comment below and a link to the 1837 U.S. Coast Survey Map from the University Of Alabama's map archive, in response to the old map I had posted on PMFA yesterday. Rick sheds some interesting light on what the purpose and the age of the old map could have been.
Thanks, Rick!

Read on:

Your map looks like a stylized version of a U.S. Coast Survey map drawn in 1837. The Coast Surveys were the first major federal effort to precisely measure/document waterways and topographic features. You can actually download these in high resolution from the University of Alabama’s amazing maps website, http://alabamamaps.ua.edu. The
1837 one seems to be the closest, except that it doesn’t show “Yellow Hook.” That may have come from another source/adaptation -- probably just a few years later (yet before the Gowanus Canal was constructed).

As I mentioned, you can get the very high resolution ones, as well as other years, via the University of Alabama Geography Department website. For those, you’d also need to download a browser plug-in called ExpressView, but once you have it there’s a wealth of stuff out there!

Reader Batman also sent in some great information about the name Yellow Hook, which is indicated on the map. He writes:

It's actually Bay Ridge that was called Yellow Hook, I think for the yellow clay ground. The name was changed in the 1800's because of fears that people would associate the area with Yellow Fever.

There is still a bar in Bay Ridge called Yellow Hook.

I don't know about you, but I love these historical facts. Keep them coming.

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