The street you’re standing on was named after Lord Stirling—but a city clerk misspelled it as “Sterling” in the 1800s, and the name stuck. Lord Stirling was actually William Alexander, a New York-born Revolutionary War general who fancied himself Scottish nobility and styled himself after the unclaimed title “Earl of Stirling.” While the British didn’t officially recognize his title, George Washington did—and relied on him during the Battle of Brooklyn just blocks from here.
Lord Stirling’s troops held the line at the Old Stone House in Gowanus, buying time for Washington to escape back across the East River with thousands of soldiers. Though he was captured in that battle, his bravery earned him a lasting legacy. The street, formerly known as Butler Street, was renamed in his honor in the late 1800s, but the bureaucratic slip shortly after the renaming has made the connection to him more difficult to follow.
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Note: This cache is accessible from the public sidewalk; do not go behind fences to houses or enter any stoops.