Today, New York City has the largest publicly owned water supply system in the world, a water works powered largely by gravity and filtered almost entirely by nature. But it wasn't always this way. This series explores how New York got to where we are today, water-wise.
Quenching Gotham's Thirst: New York Before the Croton Era
Looking at the city’s origins at the southern tip of Manhattan, this tour makes its way north (as did the city), passing by all three sites of New York’s City Hall and tracking the path to the Croton water supply, from the first water pump at the Battery, to Collect Pond and the Tea Water Pump, to the infamous Aaron Burr-founded Manhattan Water Company.
Quenching Brooklyn's Thirst
This tour focuses on the oft-understudied history of Brooklyn’s water supply during its time as an independent city. Unlike New York City pre-consolidation, Brooklyn couldn’t go north for its water (though it tried, kinda — we’ll get into it). Instead, they went east, through what is now Queens and Nassau Counties all the way out to Massapequa. This tour will include stops key to the development of those sources of supply, and what came later as Brooklyn grew and, eventually, became one of the five boroughs. Note: this tour includes a short (three-stop) trip on the C train to connect the two halves of the tour.
Each tour approx. 2 hours / $30 pp. weekends / $55 weekdays
Listen to my appearance on WNYC's NYC Now podcast discussing Quenching Brooklyn's Thirst below.
