Dead Horse Bay

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Dead Horse Bay is a small water body off Barren Island between the Gerritsen Inlet and Rockaway Inlet in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.

During the seventeenth century, Dutch settlers built tide mills to grind wheat into flour. A remaining millstone can still be found along the Millstone trail. From the nineteenth century to the twentieth century the area has been used in a variety of ways, including manufacturing fertilizer from the remains of dead animals, producing fish oil from the menhaden caught in the bay, and more recently a landfill for the disposal of New York City’s garbage. In 1926, much of the salt marsh surrounding Dead Horse Bay and the rest of Barren Island were pumped with sand from Jamaica Bay. This raised the land to 16 feet above the high tide mark and connected the islands to each other, and the mainland of Brooklyn, in order to create Floyd Bennett Field as New York City's first municipal airport. The entire area, including the historic airfield, are now managed by the National Park Service as part of the Jamaica Bay Unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area.

Today, school groups are taken to Dead Horse Bay on a regular basis to walk the Millstone trail, seine for a variety of fishes, and learn about the natural and cultural history of the area. Its shores are also a popular sport fishing spot, and home to a marina operating as a National Park Service concession.

Beach archaeology: www.archaeology.org/issues/312-1809/letter-from/6851-br...
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Horse_Bay
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   40°35'2"N   73°54'1"W

Comments

  • Now free of dead horses!!
  • Hi my name is nelson alvarez, worked at gateway marina for 7 wonderful years as a security officer, when every body went home, it was only me and nature, the atmosphere here is like another world,its beauty is profound, especially in late afternoon,nature abundance is everywhere, from swans, possums, and raccoons to yellow sea horses and drifting tropical fish, My very own paradise, I will never forget its beauty it is in graved in my treasure chest of memories, I have taken more then 1,000 pictures the 7 wonderful years i worked there, I still can believe is my Brooklyn when i look at them, the lonely winters had awaken the artist in me! from drawings pictures and poems thing i didn't know i had in me! my brooklyn. you can fin my pictures on flkr under same name By nelson Alvarez
This article was last modified 7 years ago