Dead Horse Bay

Dead Horse Bay was the second stop of my saturday excursion. Liane, yes our beloved Liane from Enhabiten had mentioned this very unusual place to me and I was curious to check it out.

Originally an island not attached to Brooklyn, Barren Island was the city's garbage dump from the 1850s until the 1920s. Carcasses of dead horses were also used to manufacture glue on the site, hence the name.

In 1926, sand was pumped and connected the island to Brooklyn.

In the 1930s the trash heap was capped.

The cap burst in the 1950s and garbage has been leaking on the beach continuously since then.

Time capsule garbage, mostly over 100 years old, hundreds and hundreds of bottles, broken, intact, dishware, toys, shoes buried in the wet sand, in the shallow water ... It is completely surreal, like a scavenger hunt.

It was very cold and foggy that day, nobody was on the beach which made the whole experience even stranger.

Those are pictures from my little haul (the last picture is just driftwood which reminded me of a construction set, I am like a kid .. really)

I definitely want to go back on a nicer day and spend some more time looking around.

I love Brooklyn for being home to places like this!