carroll street bridge over the gowanus canal, brooklyn - map it here
I had heard about it but had absolutely no idea where it was and what it looked like. Last weekend, I explored Carroll Gardens, a Brooklyn neighborhood. And here was the Gowanus Canal, nothing like what I expected.
The Carroll Street Bridge from where I took this picture, is the oldest (1889) of four retractile bridges left in the country. As you can see it is blue. What you can't see is that it is made of wood planks. These days the canal is placid and fragranceless. Google it and you surely will read about its legendary smelly past. It has undergone an expensive and ambitious cleanup effort and now has its own sewage-treatment plant and is regularly flushed with clean water.
Let's take a look back to its buccolic past, shall we?
Sunset at Gowanus Bay in the Bay New York (1851) by Henry Gritten
Source:
• Walking Brooklyn by Adrienne Onofri, 2007, Wilderness Press
• wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gowanus_Canal
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2 comments:
Ya know that that bridge opens sideways. It "slides" over to the land. I chaperoned a 2nd grade class trip there. The entire class was able to stay on the bridge as it slid open. Cool
@ chickenunderwear:
So that is what "retractile" means. ;)
I am sure the the kids loved it. I'd like to experience that for myself!
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