A Historic And Haunted Brooklyn Trader Joe's
From Revolutionary War Fort to Brooklyn’s First Trader Joe’s - where spirits linger?
Nick Bello is a writer and photographer based in Park Slope. He loves to capture local scenery as well as research local history. Follow him on Instagram @nbello8 or on substack at:
Hundreds if not thousands of Brooklyn residents enter the Trader Joe’s on Court Street every day in search of good deals and delicious food, unaware of the building’s historic significance. At the entrance of the building a sign reads:
“Near this place during the Revolutionary War stood the Ponkiesberg Fortification from which General George Washington is said to have observed the fighting at Gowanus during The Battle of Long Island August 27, 1776.”
This plaque, which is very easy to miss if you aren’t looking for it, is only part of this building’s history. A history that spans the birth and evolution of the neighborhood of Cobble Hill.
The Battle Of Brooklyn
Before the American Revolution, the area at the time was referred to as Ponkiesberg, which is Dutch for “little hill”. In August of 1776, the Continental Army would create defenses for an impending British attack in Brooklyn. This is where the name of Cobble Hill starts, as General Nathaniel Greene erected a fort named Cobble Hill Fort, which would be nicknamed Fort Corkskrew due to its shape. According to an article in the New York Times in 1960, historians believed that the fort was named due to the landscapes similarity to the Cobble Hill in Boston that played a role in the siege of Boston. However, according to the Cobble Hill Historic Designation Report published by New York City in 1969, an earlier survey of Brooklyn from 1767-69 referred to a hill on the west side of Red Hook Lane (which would later become Court Street) as “Cobleshil”.
On August 27, 1776, as the Battle of Brooklyn raged on in what would become the largest pitch battle of the Revolutionary War, General George Washington was watching the battle from Cobble Hill Fort, where Trader Joe’s sits today. The American forces were outnumbered and surrounded by the British, who had backed them up against the Gowanus Creek (present day Gowanus Canal). Facing total annihilation, the Americans only hope was to escape across the creek and into what is today Brooklyn Heights. Washington was watching from a safe distance away from the heat of the battle but close enough to see that his new and inexperienced army had a mere number of hours to try and escape from the grips of the mighty British Army, and continue their pursuit of liberty from the British crown. A brave group of Maryland soldiers now known as the Maryland 400, as there were 400 of them, made one final stand at the Old Stone House as they were able to buy enough time for American troops to retreat, by charging the British six times before eventually surrendering. From his perch in Cobble Hill, General George Washington is quoted saying, “Good God, what brave fellows I must this day lose.” Thanks to their bravery, Washington would be able to regather his men and then in the coming days slip across the East River into Manhattan, living to fight another day.
Read more about the Battle of Brooklyn here on Park Slope Pulse.
Haunted Ground
Fort Corkscrew would be reconstructed and renamed Fort Swift in the War of 1812 under the supervision of General Joseph G. Swift, whom the new fort got its name from. This is where the ghost stories would start, as a book called A History of The City Of Brooklyn By Henry Reed Styles mentioned in a footnote that Fort Swift was haunted by the spirit of a murdered man. In volume two of the book, Styles would tell another story that adds to the haunting lore. The story goes that one night a young man named Boerum (it is unclear which member of the Boerum family, from which Boerum Hill gets its name, the story is referring to), was drinking with his friends at a tavern close by. The group ran out of brandy and Boerum volunteered to go and grab some more at the Brooklyn Ferry. Boerum was the only one to volunteer as his friends were frightened at the thought of passing through the haunted grounds of the former fort to get to the ferry. The brave Boreum set out on his horse and as an hour passed, there was no sight of him. Nervous for their friend they went looking for him, and upon arriving at the haunted grounds they found his horse standing against the fence while Boerum was, “lying senseless in the road, with features horribly distorted”. Still conscious, Boreum was taken back to the tavern where he would live for a few more days “in a speechless condition” before eventually passing.
Brooklyn Savings Institution
In 1919, the South Brooklyn Savings Institution would purchase the land to build a brand new building for their growing bank. Their main branch was previously located on the corner of Clinton and Atlantic from their inception in 1850, so it wasn’t a far move. Their new branch was designed by Mckensie, Voorhees & Gmelin, who created the beautiful Renaissance revival building made out of limestone. It would be home to the bank until 2006 when they were sold to Sovereign Bank. In 2008, Trader Joe’s would move into the former bank, marking its first Brooklyn location.
~~~ Behind the paywall: discover the haunted tales and hidden history lurking beneath Brooklyn’s first Trader Joe’s ~~~
Continue reading this post for free, courtesy of Cobble Hill Collective.
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