Gerritsen Beach Brooklyn

Gerritsen Beach derives its name from Wolphert Gerretse, a Dutch settler who built a house and mill on Gerritsen Creek in the early seventeenth century, which is now part of the nearby Marine Park neighborhood. The three-hundred-year-old mill met its demise in 1931 due to fire. The prominent Whitney family owned property near the mill and erected a mansion, complete with horse stables, servant quarters, a carriage house, and a private race track. While the mansion was demolished in 1936 for the Marine Park Building Developments, the carriage house still stands today, having been converted into a private home.

Before the early twentieth century, Gerritsen Beach remained largely undeveloped, save for a few squatters’ bungalows clustered at the foot of Gerritsen Avenue. In 1920, Realty Associates, a speculative real-estate builder, initiated the construction of a middle-class summer resort in the area. This led to rapid development, with the southwestern section of Gerritsen’s meadow transformed into one-story bungalows. As the popularity of the area grew, more residents made their bungalows suitable for year-round living or built two-story houses with backyards. By the end of a decade, Gerritsen Beach boasted fifteen hundred houses. Following World War II, apartments were constructed for returning veterans and their families on the opposite side of Gerritsen Avenue, now parkland, but were later demolished around 1955 after residents relocated.

Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on Gerritsen Beach on October 29, 2012, causing significant damage to almost all homes due to its peninsula characteristics. The floodwaters, reaching a record 10–12 ft in some areas, caught most residents unprepared, leading Mayor Michael Bloomberg to reclassify Gerritsen Beach as a Zone A flood zone. The devastation was so severe that a bar from Deep Creek Marina, two miles away, floated into the neighborhood with bottles and seating intact.