Brooklyn's Washington Park, not to be confused with Manhattan's Washington Square Park (or Washington Market Park, or Fort Washington Park), is home to the J.J. Byrne Playground and, more famously, the Old Stone House. This handsome building was reconstructed from the original 1699 Dutch Vecht-Cortelyou House, which figured prominently in the Battle of Brooklyn (also called the Battle of Long Island) in the early going of the Revolutionary War.
The Old Stone House is now an interpretive and educational center. I've been to book fairs and parties there, and most recently attended a one-man show about Walt Whitman, who spent much of his life in Brooklyn.
The park itself provides some of those nice curvy paths that make spaces seem bigger.
Park Slope kids have plenty of room to romp in the playground named for James J. Byrne, a busy Brooklyn Borough President in the late 1920s, or to play in the big field, which was getting ready to host an evening movie.
There's also a lush "educational" garden. I felt educated when we walked through it the other evening – having just then learned of its existence.
June is the month for pretty flowers. Am I right?
All photos © Jon Sobel, Critical Lens Media
