Red Hook Pier 44 Waterfront Garden

Pier 44 Waterfront Garden, North Entrance, Red Hook, Brooklyn.


Saturday, when Blog Widow and I journeyed to Red Hook, he offered to drop me off at Pier 41 for the Liberty Sunset Garden Center before he went off to the Fairway. I told him I'd get out at Fairway with him, because I wanted to walk through a garden on the way to Pier 41.

I'd only seen this space in late winter, when I visited the Waterfront Museum as part of the Historic District Council's Red Hook Walking Tour. The garden was closed at that time, but I could see some of its promise. That glimpse really didn't prepare me for the summer lushness I encountered on Saturday.

Leaving the Fairway parking lot by the North exit brings you to Conover Street. Crossing the street brings you to a gated entrance with several signs for the Waterfront Museum and the Garden, the only hint of what lies beyond.





Continuing through the entrance brings you to a narrow corridor, fenced with chain link, and graced with industrial oil drum planters. We're not there yet.



Ah, now we're starting to see something.



Walking to the left brings us alongside this seaside meadow. This is mostly weeds right now, but has the potential to become much more over the years.



I continued walking to the left around the perimeter. The small grove of trees in the center will eventually provide shade for the benches and lounging boulders placed in the center.



Here's the view in the other direction.



And we're walking ... and looking back whence we came.



Here we're looking back along the "shortcut" path we could have taken from the entrance instead of walking the long way around the meadow.



Keep walking and look back again.



One of the gardeners was watering. I spoke with her briefly, and saw her again a little later, when she was working at the Liberty Sunset Garden Center. She said the gardens were about four years old. Just coming into maturity. The garden designer had worked on many other public projects, including gardens in Madison Square Park and Bryant Park in Manhattan.



I love big red Hibiscus. I want this.



Bzz. BZZ, BZZZ, BZZZZ!



All good things must come to an end. Ahead is the exit, and Pier 41 awaits us.