On one of the most gorgeous days we have seen this year,
Jason and I had a bit of an odd adventure in Brooklyn. We went antiquing in
Dead Horse Bay. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, the name fits this
place perfectly.
During the 1850’s -1930’s there used to be glue factories
along the beach where, yes, glue was manufactured mostly from horses and other
animals. By the 1930s, all the glue factories had been closed and the marsh was
instead used as a landfill and capped in the 1950s. The landfill cap eventually
burst and trash spilled onto the beach. As a result, today, not only can you find
horse bones littered along the beach, but also there are glass bottles, dishes,
shoes, toys, silverware, tires, and lots of other assorted nostalgia, some
treasures being over a hundred years old.
Dead Horse Bay is sort of a secret place that many people don’t
know about. There are no signs or paved paths to get there and asking people
who live in the area for directions will only cause you embarrassment. To get
to Dead Horse Bay, we drove to Brooklyn and parked our car at Floyd Bennett
Field. We walked for a mile until we came to the last traffic light before the
Marine Parkway Bridge and then turned left on a dirt trail that led to the
beach.
Jason and I weren’t really sure if this place was going to
be a hit or a miss, but we were immediately elated once we reached the beach
and saw it covered in glass bottles sparkling in the sun. Jason immediately
picked out horse vertebrae lying in the surf like seashells. As we admired all
of the interesting things, our creative juices started flowing. Jason decided
to collect glass bottles and I started picking up pieces of porcelain from
dishes. You wouldn’t believe all of the different colors and designs that I found
on the beach. I’m planning to create some sort of collage with all of my
pieces, but I’m not totally set on an idea.
 |
| Another man's trash is another man's treasure |
 |
| Dilapidated Doll's Face |
 |
| Horse bone, he just had to touch it |
 |
| oh, a homeless woman picking up trash from the beach |
 |
| Message in a bottle |
 |
| The handless gentleman and headless wife |
 |
| Super old Pepsi-cola bottle |
When Jason first told me to bring a garbage bag, I thought
he was out of his mind to think that we were going to bring anything home from
this filthy place. To my surprise, we found so much broken bottle treasure that
our bag was coming apart from the weight of all the items. The search for new
pieces of dishes brought me farther and father from where we started and I
eventually swung the bag over my shoulder. This only resulted in the bag
slipping through my fingers and it crashing to the ground in what felt like
slow motion. I was so mad that I slammed a glass bottle that I held in my other
hand down onto the sand and boy, did it shatter. If I didn’t feel like I was
destroying a piece of history, I would have done it again because it felt so
great to get my anger out that way. Anyway, I broke two bottles that were
inside the bag and while I was digging out the pieces with my bare hands, I
suddenly stopped and was like, “Oh shoot, my hand is bleeding.” It was really
just a small cut on my finger, but lucky for me I had Band-Aids in my purse. Later,
while Jason was helping me find broken dishes, he cut his finger too, but it
was really only a matter of time before Jason hurt himself. We really need to a
sturdier bag and gloves the next time we decided to dig for glass in the sand.
 |
| These bottles were everywhere along the beach |
 |
| We're definitely going back |
We finally decided that we had collected enough junk for one day and
decided to pack up and leave. On the way back, we saw a beautiful uprooted tree
on the beach with colorful glass bottles hanging from it. So much of Dead Horse
Bay is like a modern art museum with art pieces left by people and the best
ones made naturally from the tide. Once we got back to the main road, I found a
bench to sit on while Jason walked another mile to get the car and pick me up
because our bag was totally ripped to pieces. After we figure out what we’re
going to do with this junk, we will surely be back for more.
