Bonus: Who Williamsburg Gets Its Name From

Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center in Bed-Stuy, named after Richard M. Woodhull.

One of Hazard’s rival ferry operators was a young scion named Richard M. Woodhull, cousin to Abraham Woodhull, a founding member of the Culper spy ring out of Setauket immortalized in the recent AMC show TURN and to Nathanial Woodhull, the Revolutionary War hero. Richard Woodhull, whose name lives on through a giant hospital, deserves credit as the first to recognize the potential for a bustling town in what is now the heart of Williamsburg. In 1802, Woodhull purchased 13 acres of land alongside the East River around what is Metropolitan Avenue, and began hyping the city’s newest suburb. To market his development, he asked a friend to survey the land: the well-respected military planner and nephew to Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Williams. Hence the name.

The land speculation that Woodhull set off did not make him rich, or endear him at first to the locals. According to 19th century historian Henry Stiles, however, the farming class of future Williamsburg came around to Woodhull’s point of view: “Instead of slowly amassing money by plodding labor and close-fisted huckstering, they found fortunes fairly thrust upon them by the enhanced value of their farms; due to the enterprise of others, whom they considered as Yankee intruders. They hesitated at first, dazzled by the prospect, and suspicious of the motives of those who offered. But finesse prevailed and the first purchase made – the rest was simply a matter of time.”
Next, check out the real life locations featured on the AMC show TURN about America’s first spy ring.