Map of the Month - February 2014

Hooker’s New Pocket Plan of the Village of Brooklyn. New York : William Hooker, 1827. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.

For February’s map of the month, I have selected the 1827 of Hooker’s New Pocket Plan of the Village of Brooklyn. This map may look familiar to readers of the Brooklyn Historical Society blog, as an 1861 reprint of this map, published as Hooker’s Map of the Village of Brooklyn in the Year 1827, was featured in December 2012. Both maps depict in exquisite detail the layout of the intimate village on and near the bluff overlooking the harbor, clustered near the ferry landings facing the southern tip of Manhattan. This map is featured in the recently opened exhibit In Pursuit of Freedom at the BHS as an illustration of how closely situated all the inhabitants of Brooklyn were despite their differences in origin and native racial prejudices.

Places for public worship. Hooker's Pocket Plan of the Village of Brooklyn, 1827. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.

What makes the 1827 version of the map interesting enough for another look is the list of points of interest printed above the title. Appearing as the 8th entry under ‘Places for Public Worship’, and the third of the Methodist chapels, we find: “African do. do. High, bet Jay & Bridge.” This is the earliest appearance on a map, as far as I can discover, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church on High Street, established in 1818, the oldest African American church in Brooklyn. In 1854, the congregation moved to Bridge Street, and became known as the Bridge Street AWME Church. Still known as the Bridge Street Church, it is now located on Stuyvesant Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant. For more information about the creation of the AWME Church in Brooklyn and the importance of the Bridge Street Church in the struggle for abolition, be sure to look at the IPOF website.

The entire list of places of interest on the 1827 map is fascinating--for example, gardens outnumber every other category except places of worship in Brooklyn at this time--and this sheet is an early directory of Brooklyn business as well as an important map. The list includes places for public worship, apprentices’ libraries, schools, markets, banks, insurance companies, lodges, gardens, and hotels.

BHS has 2 versions of the 1827 map, the one with hand-coloring featured here and one without, as well as the 1861 reprint. Although William Hooker also printed Hooker’s New Pocket Plan of the City of New York in many editions with many surviving to this day, these Village of Brooklyn maps are relatively rare.

Interested in seeing more maps? You can view the BHS map collection anytime during the library’s open hours, Wed.-Sat., from 1-5 p.m. No appointment is necessary to view most maps.

The exhibit In Pursuit of Freedom is a public history project that features new research on Brooklyn's abolition movement in partnership with Weeksville Heritage Center and Irondale Ensemble Project. It is on display at Brooklyn Historical Society until Winter 2018.