A Brooklyn Heights Abolitionism Tour

Plymouth Church

Originally posted on my other blog the Trav-a-log, the contents of which I am in the process of transplanting here, so that it will all live in one place!

I have lived in New York 30 years and have not yet exhausted all the free or low-cost staycations there are to be had here. Nor even all the ones in Brooklyn! To wit: a few days ago, I realized that I was related to Henry C. Bowen, one of the Founders (sort of the main founder, since he underwrote it) of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights, the historic Abolition-promoting church where Henry Ward Beecher was pastor. Bowen came from my mother’s hometown of Woodstock, Connecticut. Our common ancestor is the Welsh Puritan Griffith Bowen (ca. 1600-1675). I’d probably first learned about the church in grammar school, but hadn’t realized it still stood — it’s on a very obscure sidestreet in old Brooklyn, kind of cut off from everything by Cadman Plaza and major roads heading to the Brooklyn Bridge. But I did a little research, and voila!

Today is also the birthday of another Abolitionist (and early feminist) Elizabeth Cady Stanton, whom I even more closely related to, an auspicious day on which to do this. Brooklyn is known as the borough of churches — and our churches continue to carry the torch of progressivism. These days they champion refugee and immigrants, among others.

Statue of Henry Ward Beecher

Lincoln Frieze

I first spotted this banner at the nearby First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn. But I quickly realized they were all over the place.  

This exhibition on Brooklyn Abolitionists is at the Brooklyn Historical Society through June 2018

The Quaker Meeting House is located on Schermerhorn Street\