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The “old” Dutch Reformed
Church of New Utrecht, built in 1828—a replacement for the original, built in
1700 two blocks to the west.
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The church is now
undergoing renovation. Like its neighborhood, it has served many distinct
communities.
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Streets are constantly
being renamed to suit the P.C. demands of the moment.…
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New Utrecht Avenue, imagined by
your author as the “trail to Red Hook,” is now blessed with an elevated subway train line.
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Kings Highway originally
extended to The Narrows across these blocks of 84th Street.
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Looking north on New
Utrecht Avenue from 84th Street, a row of auto body shops and
parts dealers.
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The north side of 84th
Street west of New Utrecht Avenue—a clean, unpretentious, self-respecting
blue-collar residential area.
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A Baptist church, built
in the 1890s, stands today on the site of the original octagonal D.R.
church built in 1700.
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A prominent historical
marker in the graveyard next to the church recalls a dramatic moment of the
American Revolution.
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A detail of the marker
offers a rendering of what a local house might have looked like. It compares with the
Wyckoff house of Flatlands.
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The opposite corner of
the graveyard (now 84th Street & 16th Avenue) is the precise
spot your author has imagined for the Dordrecht family home.
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For reasons lost to time,
the graveyard is owned by New York City, not the Baptist church or the
Dutch Reformed church. Perhaps that explains its appalling disrepair. This is
where Thomas Dordrecht’s grandfather would have been buried (if he weren’t fictional)!
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In Milestone Park (at 82nd
Street & 18th Avenue), the replacement for the 1741 original
spells out distances to important landmarks along the highway.
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