Old Bay Ridge & Ovington Village:: A History (Brief History)

Growing up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn in the 1950's, I noticed a street with the peculiar name of Ovington Avenue. I had no idea of its historical significance, least of all it being the site of an artists' colony decades earlier. This book provides wonderful background stories for both Bay Ridge and the colony, presented with a most satisfying alliance of narrative and period photos. Although I have added half a star because of its personal import for me, this is a story worth reading, no matter where you grew up. After having lived in densely developed Brooklyn, it is hard to imagine it as it was in the mid-1850's, home to expansive states and wild, lush greenery everywhere. But that is one of the purposes of history, isn' it- to remind us what came before, and which may never be again?