9. Walt Whitman Has Ties to the Brooklyn Navy Yard

American poet Walt Whitman once lived in Wallabout, a Brooklyn neighborhood located next to the navy yard. In fact, he would have been very familiar with the site, as it employed many of the residents from the surrounding neighborhoods and served as an area for social gatherings and events. Today, it’s one of the oldest areas of the borough, decorated with a mix of town homes, warehouses and the largest concentration of pre-Civil War wood-framed houses in the city. According to “Brooklyn’s Historic Clinton Hill and Wallabout” by Brian Merlis, it’s also where Walt Whitman completed “Leaves of Grass” (on 99 Ryerson Street to be specific).