Tomorrow: Celebrate the Coney Island Bicentennial!

The old Coney Island toll house and gate.

Obviously, the sand bar we know as Coney Island is uncountably old, and was trafficked by Native Americans long before the Dutch and English began poking around out there. But according to the Coney Island History Project, 2023 marks the 200th anniversary of when it first became open to the public in the modern era, meaning that this is when it first became a recreation spot for New Yorkers. That would have been a slow trickle at first. Before public transportation, you’re really talking about Brooklynites heading over to splash around in the water and collect sea shells and so forth. Only later came hotels, and then amusement parks (see my Coney Island 101 here). But I am so jazzed to check out the artifact that started it all, which the Coney Island History Project will have on view tomorrow. The details are all here: