Join Me on a Tour of Dead Horse Bay!

“Bottle Beach” at Dead Horse Bay, Brooklyn.

What’s Dead Horse Bay?

Beginning in the 1850s, this area of the Brooklyn waterfront served as the final destination for the city’s carriage horses. Horse carcasses were delivered by barge to gigantic bone boiling plants and processed into glue and fertilizer. Following the rise of the automobile and a series of natural disasters, the factories closed down and fell to ruin. What was then a marshy landmass called “Barren Island” was filled in with garbage and connected to mainland Brooklyn. The southern tip of the new peninsula was used as an active landfill from the 1930s to the early 50s.

Over the last 60 years, the man-made beach at Dead Horse Bay has slowly eroded away, and decades’ worth of trash have been gradually excavated from the soil.  At low tide, garbage covers the beach, and the vast majority of it dates back to the 1930s and 40s.  There’s a preponderance of glass, not plastic, bottles.  Some bear the faded trademark of long-lost brand names. Tellingly, most of the toys and trinkets were “Made in the U.S.A.”  Others originated in “Occupied Japan.”

The beach is open to the public as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, and I know that many of you are adventurous enough to visit on your own.  But if you’d prefer a slightly more structured group activity, this tour won’t disappoint.

Some familiar brand names among the old bottles.

What are the transport/parking options getting to the event?

Dead Horse Bay is remote and easy to miss, so we’ll be meeting at a predetermined location in Flatbush that’s easily accessible by subway and taking the bus over together.  You’ll recieve an email with detailed meeting instructions beforehand.  The tour itself will take around two hours, but you can expect to be back at the meeting point 3 hours from the start time.  If you prefer to drive, free parking is available in Floyd Bennett Field, just across the street from the beach.

What can I expect from the tour?

After a short bus ride to the waterfront, we’ll be making a loop through Dead Horse Bay’s natural areas, covering the entire shoreline affected by the breached landfill.  Along the way, I’ll give you an account of the rise and fall of Barren Island’s industrial age, including the plight of the factory workers, the efforts of the “Anti-Barren Island League,” and the story of how the island became infested with 1,000 wild hogs. Then you’re free to explore on your own before we reconvene for an informal “show and tell” where we’ll show off our favorite finds from the day. More info and ticketing available here.

Is it OK to take things from the beach?

While a few might bristle at the thought of removing “artifacts” from Dead Horse Bay, there is no official word on the issue.  A steady stream of artists, crafters, and collectors have been gathering supplies and curios here for years, without much of a reduction in the overall amount of garbage.  Generally, I don’t have a problem with removing things from the beach (I’m certainly guilty of it.)  But since we’ll be visiting as a group, I do want to minimize our impact as much as possible.  I won’t stand in your way if you’d like to take home a bottle or two, but the best policy might be to leave things behind for others to enjoy.

Here’s a few of the best finds I’ve made over the past few years: (Click to enlarge)

See more photos and a detailed history of Dead Horse Bay in my book, Abandoned NYC.