27 July 2007

Parachute Jump in Cobble Hill?



You never know what chapters of history hide inside the buildings of an old Brownstone neighborhood like Cobble Hill.

I've been told a couple times that the above carriage house on Kane Street near Henry (it's now a residence) was used during World War II to store parachutes. I first heard the story from a local landlord, which led me to think it credible; my experience has been that landlords know all the dope about the buildings in the neighborhood where they do business, since they are in steady contact with other landlords. (Landlord-on-landlord gossip can be a juicy thing.)

Why parachutes would be stores in the Borough of Kings I don't know. Perhaps this was in the first years of the war, when an attach on New York City seems a possibility. If anyone out there knows anything, please speak up.

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