Lott House: A Peek Inside
As part of this year’s Open House New York, I had the opportunity to visit the Hendrick Lott House. Although the exterior of the house has been fully restored, the interior still needs further cleaning and restoration. Nonetheless, the rooms that were available for viewing offered visitors a sense of what life must have been like for the Lott family. On display were artifacts produced by excavations of the property as well as objects/tools that were located in the basement of the house:
“It’s My Park Day” – The Lott House is looking for volunteers to donate some time and elbow grease for a clean up on Saturday October 24th from 10:00 – 2:00 PM. Please call (718) 336-7343 for more information. Service credit will be given for students!
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Those are really great pictures. I also took advantage of open house weekend and dragged my “I’m too sexy for my shirt” teen to check out the exhibit. The man who led the very brief tour was extremely knowledgeable about the history of the house and the surrounding area. I didn’t know that a descendant of the family actually lived in the home until 1989 and that the property were going to be sold to make way for a building which was to become a medical facility. Fortunately, the community was able to pressure the city into buying the property which the city then turned over to the Parks Department. Slaves were owned by the family until slavery was abolished in New York State in 1827. It’s believed, based on artifacts found in an upstairs closet, that the house eventually became part of the Underground Railroad. The old pictures which were exhibited really captured what this area was like in the 1700 and 1800s and there was even a tax document on display which indicated that the owners paid less than $3.00 in real estate taxes! It was an interesting tour and I’m happy Marine Park has preserved a little piece of history for everyone to enjoy.
Bagels, thanks for the information! As so many parts of Brooklyn are regaled for their history and influence, I am glad Marine Park can share in this a bit.