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The People of the Rock

Photos of Sunset Parkers Visiting the Historic Boulder on 35th St & 5th Ave

     The Sunset Park Historic Boulder was hidden underground at the foot of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica for 14,000 years.   The granite stone was brought to Sunset Park by a glacier from across the continental United States and when global warming halted the glacier it melted and left behind a mound of soil, rock and debris that we call 6th Avenue - the highest points in Brooklyn.

 

     When the boulder was discovered during a construction project, the members of Sunset Parker Facebook moved it to 35th Street and 5th Avenue to mark the location of a long forgotten road - Martense Lane - which connected the small Town of Flatbush with the little hamlet called Gowanus.  Martense Lane ended as it reached the Gowanus Road.  Gowanus Road connected the southern end of Brooklyn with the north.

 

     There is a story that dates back to the days that the Dutch were the main inhabitants of Gowanus in the 1600's.  That story - The Legend of Martense Lane - tells of a similar granite boulder.  That boulder was where a humble Dutch slave and the devil met by chance one night.  In the story, the slave defeats the devil and gives us a classic story of good beating evil.

 

     But the story of our boulder is even bigger than this allegory - because this location marks the location of the first battle of the American Revolution after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  And even more it stands as a reminder of the forces of nature that created the land that we now call Sunset Park.

 

     As word of the boulder spread through Sunset Park local residents began visiting the site so that they could touch the rock and become a part of the new living legend.  

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