Onward...
Periodically along Cropsey Avenue we see hints of what Bath Beach was like when mansions overlooked the yacht-dotted Gravesend Bay. At Bay 8th Street, there was once a distinctive two-cupola mansion under all that siding. Across the street is a playground in Dyker Beach Park, a vast area that includes the golf course as well as recreational areas south of Veterans Hospital and also at 86th Street and 14th Avenue. Like many Brooklyn place names, Dyker has a Dutch origin, either from a colonial-era Van Dyke family or the Dutch practice of building dikes in their low-lying country. The park was developed in stages between 1895 and 1934.
Large homes and plots are now unusual in Bath Beach and so this brick house at 15th Avenue and Cropsey stands out. There are certain clues you can look for in New York City if you’re wondering how old a neighborhood is, or how old a house might be, and one of them is the presence of bluestone sidewalks. This handsomest variety of NYC walkway has not commonly been installed since the 1910s.
