Daily What?! Brooklyn Nautical Maps at the Smith-9th Street Subway Station

Have you ever noticed the nautical maps on every window of the Smith-9th Street subway? In fact, the station which re-opened in April 2013 after a long renovation, has two pieces of nautically influenced art by Alyson Shotz. The nautical charts are from the surrounding neighborhoods of Gowanus and Red Hook and date from 1773 to 1992. A larger scale piece is located at the foot of the escalators. Called Compass Bearings, is a blue mosaic that “riffs on an adapted 1779 nautical map of NY Harbor as seen from the Brooklyn shoreline,” according to MTA Arts for Transit.

Read more from our list of 10 unique subway art installations in NYC. Get in touch with the author @untappedmich. See more quirky NYC facts and discoveries in our “Daily What?!” series. Submit your own via Twitter with the hashtag #DailyWhat.