6. There are still remains of the 17th-century Gerritsen Creek grist mill
Gerritsen Creek gets its name from the Gerritsen family (or Gerretse), early Dutch settlers who inhabited the area for three centuries. The creek was the original port of entry for the Dutch and an important trading dock for southern Brooklyn. In the mid-1600s, Hugh Gerritsen built the first tide-powered grist mill in North America at the creek in present-day Marine Park, according to NYC Parks. The mill even ground flour, corn, and grains for the troops in General George Washington’s army during the Revolutionary War. The grist mill operated until 1889, and the property was sold to Gilded Age tycoon William C. Whitney a decade later.
In 1928, over two decades after the mill was donated to the city, the estate announced plans to restore the mill. By then, the mill was subject to vandalism and damage, When renovation began in the 1930s, only one wall of the estate’s home was stable. In 1935, after the exterior renovation was completed, the house burned down at the hands of an arsonist, destroying the mill that had operated for well over 200 years. In low tide, visitors to Marine Park can see the remnants of the dam and the foundations of the mill.