The triangle commemorates Joyce Kilmer, one of the most famous Americans to die in combat during World War I. Before going off to war, Joyce Kilmer wrote the well-known poem “Trees,” which expresses his love for nature, and was widely read. The benches under the trees in the triangle are similar to the atmosphere that Kilmer sat in when writing many of his poems. In addition to his writing, Kilmer is remembered for his extreme bravery and unwavering commitment to the war.
The Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead was built around the year 1766 in what is today Brooklyn, New York. The property consists of a Dutch farmhouse and barn. The rectangular farmhouse is a story and a half tall, and it is one of the only remaining Dutch farmhouses left in New York City, leaving with us an example of what Dutch colonial farmhouse architecture was like. The house was named a landmark site by the city of New York in 1968, and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
The monument to Desert Storm veteran Major Eugene McCarthy (USMC) is marked with a broken stone in a bed of broken rocks. The artist designed the memorial to symbolize the experience of battle, love of country, and the lives broken by war.
The tiny house behind a white picket fence at 1640 E. 48th St. in Flatlands began as a Dutch colonial farmhouse, built around 1747, probably by Wilhelmus Stoothoff. The newer, larger wing was added in 1811. The "Kouwenhoven House" also is known as the "Stoothoff - Baxter - Kouwenhoven House" (SBK House for short, here). The house has been moved twice! Originally, the smaller house stood, facing south, north of Mill Lane on land of Wilhelmus Stoothoff. The son of Wilhelmus, Garret, inherited the house. Garret's daughter, Altje, married John Baxter; Baxter moved the house to the south of Mill Lane and added the larger wing. John's granddaughter Abigail inherited the house in 1836 and later married William I. Kouwenhoven. The house was moved slightly around 1900 to make way for E. 34th St. to be built. A Kouwenhaven daughter and her husband still lived in the house in 1925. The SBK House became a New York City landmark in 1976 and was listed in the New York and National Registers of Historic Places in 1982.
The Flatlands Dutch Reformed Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and is a New York City landmark. The Greek Revival style church building was constructed in 1848 as the congregation's third church. The burial ground next to the church has over a thousand burials dating back to about 1660, including the grave of the "Rebel Parson," Reverend Ulpianus Van Sinderen. When the City of New York proposed in 1924 to transform the church and cemetery into a public park to be maintained by the city, the outcry from church members and nearby residents put a stop to the plan.
A late eighteenth-century Dutch colonial farmhouse now stands at 1128 E. 34th St. in the Flatlands neighborhood, behind a white picket fence. The house is known as the "Ditmas Coe House" or the "Joost Van Nuyse House." Van Nuyse was born in 1716 and died in 1792; he is thought to be the builder of the house. Coe rented the house from a Van Nuyse heir in 1852. The original part of the Ditmas Coe House is wood frame, 1.5 stories tall, and nearly square, with a covered front porch. A later wing is much larger than the original house. The Ditmas Coe House became a New York City landmark in 1969 and was listed in the National Register in 2006. The Amersfort Nursery. a local landscape company, bought the Ditmas Coe House around 1923 when it was standing at the intersection of Flatbush Ave. and Avenue J, and used the house for part of its business. The Nursery moved the structure one block away to its current location on E. 34th St. off of Flatbush Ave. around July 1925. The house is a private dwelling once again.
The East Midwood Jewish Center is a Conservative synagogue and community center on Ocean Avenue between Avenue K and Avenue L. The Renaissance Revival style building took three years to build and was finished in 1929 at a cost of $1 million. Future Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was confirmed at East Midwood at age 13. The East Midwood Jewish Center was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006 for its architecture as an example of early twentieth century synagogue design, and for its significance in the history of the New York Jewish community. While it is not the only example of the combination synagogue/ community center from its era in Brooklyn, it is one of the least altered buildings and still serves its original purpose (many others have been converted into Jewish or non-Jewish schools).
The house at 1666 Glenwood Road was built around 1907 in the new subdivision Fiske Terrace, in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. The house was the final home of Brooklyn Dodgers owner Charles Ebbets, who lived here from 1912 until his death in 1925. Ebbets Field, the new home of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1913, was named for him. The original owner and architect are not known. The wood frame house covered with brick, wood clapboard, and wood shingles is one of many within the Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park historic district, a New York City landmark since 2008. The house has had several modifications. The roof was extended to create a carport and the front porch was enclosed with brick walls around 1920. A brick garage was built in the rear of the lot around the same time.
The house at 57 DeKoven Court was one of the first built in the new Midwood Park subdivision in 1903. "Midwood" comes from the Dutch "Midwout," their name for the Flatbush area of Brooklyn when it was part of a Dutch colony. The house's Dutch Colonial Revival architectural features are well-preserved, including a gambrel roof end turned to the front, a denticulated cornice, and a wide front veranda with square columns. The house is part of the New York City landmarked historic district of Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park, designated in 2008. It remains a single-family home with over 2,500 square feet.
This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.
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From Dutch colonial era farmhouses to early twentieth-century subdivisions, this driving tour takes you past historical houses in Midwood and Flatlands. Along the way there are historical monuments to war heroes plus a church and a synagogue.
