The Gravestone Under Penny Bridge

A mystery on the banks of Newtown Creek

Just a little while ago I was hanging out with my partner, Sarah, at the former Penny Bridge site, at the end of Meeker Ave. Newtown Creek’s tide was low, so I decided to check out the rocky shoreline just east of the old bridge’s abutment. While I was clambering down, Sarah pointed out an odd stone on the shore, much more rectangular than the others.

It appeared to be a chunk of an old tombstone for “Annie,” “Barbara,” and “Peter,” all of whom died on unknown dates in unknown years, bearing unknown surnames. I wondered if they were upset. I worried that they might soon haunt the most pleasant, remote spot in the whole neighborhood if no answers could be found.

Sitting at home later that day I considered my two theories, the first of which seemed more obvious: Penny Bridge once provided the most direct connection between North Brooklyn and Calvary Cemetery, just over the creek in Blissville, Queens. The cemetery is the final resting place for many Catholics; it is also home to thousands of tombstones, many of them as old as this fragment seemed to be.

Could it have been stolen from Queens and dumped back in Brooklyn?

Or was it always a Kings County artifact? Perhaps it was a remnant of the old Duryea House, which sat near the Penny Bridge site from approximately 1681 until 1921. Were Annie, Barbara, and Peter the inheritors of the old estate? Had they been buried in a family plot along the doomed creek?

I turned to the New York Public Library’s map collection for clues.

I could see the bridge, and Meeker Ave approaching it. This map didn’t include the old Duryea House, but it did include the three structures on a corner parcel that would eventually be purchased by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit company. (One of their trolley lines terminated at the bridge. That corner parcel is still New York City Transit property. They categorize it as “right of way” property; it’s a parking lot.) So, a few interesting features here, but no real clues.

I returned to my googling, thinking that Penny Bridge’s history would have some hints. There was some retrospective writing done on that area’s bridges a few years back, when the state first announced its intention to replace the old Kosciuszko Bridge. One exceedingly thorough blog came from the Brooklyn Public Library’s Jen Hoyer:

“The original bridges across Newtown Creek at this location were referred to as Penny Bridge, in reference to a toll for crossing that remained in effect until 1881. Even after the toll was removed, the bridge kept that colloquial name as late as the early 20th century, when we see it referenced on a piece of 1904 letterhead from The Riley Bros. Marble and Granite Works. . . ”

A monument maker at Meeker Ave and Penny Bridge! Across from Calvary Cemetery — exactly where you’d expect to find a marble and granite works! “Lettering and Jobbing done in the cemetery at the Shortest Notice”! Maybe they once arranged their “Letters” to spell out Annie, Barbara, and Peter!

I returned to New York Public Library’s atlases. And lo,

Okay, these atlases do not prove anything beyond a shadow of a doubt. Barbara, Annie, and Peter might still reside unmarked in Greenwood for all we know.

Then again, the carving work is not spectacular. Maybe this stone was an apprentice’s for practicing on. Or there’s a chance it was a more senior engraver’s mistake. It could very well be that this odd piece of stone, which once verged on an eternity of signifying and commemorating, is where it ought to be, letting the elements smooth its edges.

What’s up in Brooklyn?

North Brooklyn Pipeline Protest Continues On Saturday (Greenpointers)

‘Health or Their Home’: The Risks of Housing Court During a Pandemic (Curbed)

N.Y. Bans Chokeholds and Approves Other Measures to Restrict Police (New York Times)

Surging Absentee Ballot Demand Across New York Causes Delays, Plus Early Voting Begins (Gothamist)

Thus concludes this June 14, 2020 edition of East & Creek, the VERY OCCASIONAL newsletter about Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Read the full archives here.

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See ya around the neighb,

Jon Hanrahan
Author, e&c