OCEAN HILL VS. OCEAN HILL
Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes.
The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations.
Do you know the history of YOUR house?
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Before there was Ocean Hill, there was…Ocean Hill….
Researching the history of this Brooklyn moniker, though, points you in the direction of two very different places with two very different histories.
There is the original Ocean Hill in Green-Wood Cemetery, a geographic location used famously by George Washington during the American Revolution. And then, there is the Ocean Hill in the eastern section of Bedford-Stuyvesant, created by developers in 1860s Bushwick.
The only characteristic the two places have had in common – other than the name – was a view of the ocean from their perches.
But, now, even that is gone for one of them.
OCEAN HILL – GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY
Ocean Hill in Brooklyn’s City of the Dead, Green-Wood Cemetery, is likely as old as the cemetery itself, which dates from 1838.
While it was not likely known as such during the American Revolution, the high vantage point was used by George Washington before the Battle of Brooklyn to observe the British forces, which were gathering to the south (and which would subsequently drive him out of New York).
Ocean Hill according to Green-Wood Illustrated (issue 1), “is one of the most elevated spots in the Cemetery,” and “it occupies the north-eastern corner of the grounds.”
“The sea itself,” the publication went on to note, “with here and there a sail, terminates the view.”
An historically beautiful spot with panoramic views and ocean breezes, Ocean Hill has been the subject of countless verses which celebrated both the geography of the spot as well as the famous dead who rest there.
What health, what strength in every breeze is given“
OCEAN HILL – BUSHWICK
The first reference to the name “Ocean Hill” as it regarded that tiny section in the far eastern part of Bedford-Stuyvesant is from an 1858 article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle entitled “Advance in the Value of Brooklyn Real Estate”:
“In passing westwardly we go over an ascending grade until we reach the corner of the hill, distant less than half a mile from the Fulton avenue terminal. At this point, now known as Ocean Hill, we have reached the highest point on the avenue and the most commanding elevation of ground in the city; and which, for the grandeur, beauty and variety of its scenery, cannot be surpassed.
“This ground, embracing about 100 acres, was purchased in 1848 and 1859 by Mssrs. Radde & Sackmann at about $250 per acre. There has since been expended in paving and grading a portion of it about $1000 per acre. Last year Mssr. Radde & Sackmann sold 850 lots at an average, including paving and grading, of $300 per lot.
“Not a solitary building has yet been erected on that portion of Fulton avenue, as the grading and paving of the Ocean Hill property has not yet been completed, though the work is vigorously prosecuted, and is rapidly approaching completion.”
Around 1867, almost ten years later, construction had begun and houses were being sold and rented out.
Famously German in its early years, by the turn of the 20th century the area would become popular with working class Italian families through to about the 1960s.
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Brownstone Detectives is an historic property research agency. Our mission is to document and save the histories of our clients’ homes. From our research, we produce our celebrated House History Books and House History Reports. Contact us today to begin discovering the history of your home.
