Thursday Photos and a Bit of Brooklyn History

One day last week, when the weather was fantastic, I woke up wanting to do something different.  My little neighborhood park was becoming a little boring, and to be honest, I never could feel close to nature there what with the cars whizzing by or the business of people using the park as a shortcut to home or work.  I could have gotten on the bus and gone to Coney Island, but I wasn't feeling like it.  So, I went online and found the perfect place...and the bus that stops across from my house takes me right there.  Now I try to get there at least once a week.

Owl’s Head Park is a  large park nestled on a large hill that overlooks  the Narrows in the neighborhood of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.  No one is quite sure where the name originated. One interesting bit of history I found was that my Dutch ancestor,  Teunis Van Pelt, was the first European to own this land.

At first when I got off the bus I looked and said, "I can't do this."  So many hills.  But, I took it slow and made it to the top of the tallest hill.  Spent my afternoon in the shade of the trees and quietude of nature.  I spent four hours looking out over the water. That is Staten Island in the distance.

Long ago the Nyack Indians called this land home, and rumor has it that the hill was once an old Indian burial ground.

 

This is one way of getting into the park.  A stairway of logs and dirt.

I imagine this will be an awesome place to visit in the fall.