A Dose of Cobble Hill History

In our quest to find amusing Brooklynalia, we came across a blog called Splenetic and a post called "How Cobble Lost Its Hill." Its a short primer on Cobble Hill Revolutionary War history. (Maybe you know the story below, but we didn't.) There is a plaque of George Washington at the corner of Court and Clinton streets that commemorates the spot of the Cobble Hill Fort built by the Continental Army atop "Cobleshill":

Cobble Hill was one of a number of forts built by General Nathanael Greene, who was charged by Washington to defend Brooklyn from the British. (George himself decided he would prefer to defend Manhattan, the posh toff.) For the British to take New York City, they would first have to take Brooklyn. To this end, the Brits had started ferrying their troops across the Narrows from Staten Island, and landing them in Gravesend Bay. Greene's first idea for defense was to simply burn New York to the ground, but that didn't go over too well...

Long story short, the Americans quickly lost Brooklyn, and then all of New York City (which the British burned down anyway, proving that Greene had the right idea). In order to ensure that the Americans wouldn't retake the strategic vantage of Cobble Hill Fort, the Brits demolished the structure, and then levelled the hill itself.

Ironically enough, less than eighty years later, WInston Churchill's mother was born a few blocks away from the site. The surrounding, nearly flat neighborhood was known as simply part of "South Brooklyn," until a 1970's re-branding to foster gentrification.

Fun stuff, that Revolutionary War history.