Birds on Crane

Birds alighting
a crane boom and cable
by the canal

Dead Horse Bay/Floyd Bennett Field (Brooklyn by the Sea: Part 3)

Dead Horse Bay and Floyd Bennett Field, like Plumb Beach, are part of the Gateway National Recreation Area.



Dead Horse Bay’s main attraction is its vintage garbage (Video).







The Historic Aircraft Restoration Project (H.A.R.P.) is a unique museum and active workshop in an old hangar at Floyd Bennett Field. The volunteer staff there is devoted to the history and preservation of American aviation. They can be remarkably friendly and informative, showing their appreciation to visitors who make the trek to this obscure corner of Brooklyn.





SLIDESHOW – Brooklyn by the Sea (Flickr)

Plumb Beach & Vicinity (Brooklyn by the Sea: Part 2)

Official Plumb Beach: A shuttered rest stop (click for Plumb Beach history)


Sewage treatment plant on Knapp St.


“Ever Vigilant in Protecting Nature’s Precious Resource. Through Applied Technology We are Purifying our Water.”


Marina on Plumb Beach Channel, Gerritsen Beach





Gerritsen Beach


Houses on Plumb Beach Channel


Condos on Emmons Ave., Sheepshead Bay




Gulls trail a pleasure craft motoring through Sheepshead Bay



Neighbors: Derelict backyard of motel next to beach




Unofficial entrance to the beach (Kingsborough College lighthouse in background)




Sunset: Assisted Living Facilities surround the wasteland where Plumb Beach meets Sheepshead Bay

SLIDESHOW – Brooklyn by the Sea (Flickr)

Charging Up

Greenstreets: Nature—Brooklyn Style

“In 1996, Parks began converting barren concrete triangles and traffic islands into Greenstreets, making the pavement spring to life by planting trees, shrubs and flowers.”

Source: New York City Dept. of Parks and Recreation

A (Gnarled) Tree Grows in Brooklyn

St. John’s Place, 3/24/07 (Saturday) at 4:04 pm

Back to the Garden

The need to understand nature, in order to maintain our own survival as well as sate our curiosity, is central to human nature.



Nature simply exists, but knowledge invests it with functionality. The tobacco plant knows not what miseries and delights of which it is capable. Hemlock is ignorant of its toxicity, blind to its infamy.

Above: Shrine to Inari, the god of harvest and protector of plants

Man sanctifies “mother nature,” but she is deeply, eternally indifferent. And all of the temples and rites and celebrations intended for her are really for us alone.



When culture imposes itself on nature, when human priorities clash with the environment, the results can be catastrophic . . . or simply kitsch.



The nature of man is to pervert nature, through display and ornamentation, language, and neglect. The latter, of course, often causes great suffering and is a pervasive threat. Habitually, though, man shows that improving on nature is more than possible, if not preferable.