Sailing Off the Big Apple

When Domino Park opened to the public this summer, the new park on the Brooklyn waterfront also revealed a long section of the shoreline that had been inaccessible to the public for the past 160 years. The waterfront at Domino Park, Williamsburg, Brooklyn On the banks of the East River in Williamsburg near Kent and South 4th streets, this area of the waterfront was from the early days easily accessible by ship, beginning with the first Dutch explorers. In 1856 F. C. Havemeyer selected the site for a refinery. View from the elevated walkway, Domino Park. Later known as Domino Sugar Refinery, the company employed thousands of European immigrants, and later Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and African Americans. Converting sugar from a raw to a refined state involves hard labor, beginning with the work of the longshoremen who unloaded the ships. In 2014, the site served as an installation piece by artist Kara Walker whose massive sphinx with African features and nearby attendant