Revolutionary Soldiers Carved Names on Beams of This Now-Gone Dutch Farm in Flatlands
An old Dutch farm that once stood in Flatlands is gone but not forgotten. A Brownstoner reader sent in never-before-published family photos and stories of life on the farm circa 1900, when his great-grandfather lived there.
The commenter, who currently lives in Park Slope, wrote that his, “great grandfather, Robert Buckley, was a ‘market man’ tenant farmer for the Kouwenhovens of Flatbush in the late 1800s until the early 1920s. He would take his horse-drawn wagon full of produce fresh from the farm at Kings Highway to the Wallabout [Market].”
This produce consisted largely of potatoes, cabbage, beets and celery. As well, the farm contained various livestock, including a dairy cow named Bossy.
All the veggies were grown on the Kouwenhoven’s 10-acre farm, which also contained various outbuildings, including a large Dutch barn which, according to Buckley’s relatives, housed Revolutionary soldiers — who carved their names into the beams.
Buckley also ran the Kouwenhoven’s greenhouses and hot houses, and he raised 13 children in the Kouwenhoven-owned farm house, which was located at Kings Highway and 54th Street (formerly Kouwenhoven Lane). It was torn down in 1925 when Kings Highway was widened so as to allow for the expansion of the street grid.
According to the commenter, “The property was originally going to be sold to St. John’s College (today’s St. John’s University) on which they were going to built a new campus. But the deal fell through.” St. John’s University was built in Queens, and the farmhouse was razed, eventually replaced with the garden apartments which stand there today.
“This is the only known image of my great grandfather (Robert Buckley in vest and straw hat) with the Kouwenhovens (elder Kouwenhoven in suit and derby; two Kouwenhoven sons in suits). They are standing in front of one of the many ‘hot houses’ which Robert Buckley maintained.”
[Photos via Buckley Family Archive. Not to be reproduced without permission]
Related Stories
Flatlands: Of Sunny Days, Sea Breezes, Knights in Armor and Chewing Gum
Brooklyn Couple Restores 1813 Saugerties Farmhouse With Views of the Catskill Mountains
The Wallabout Market and the Neighborhood’s Name Origins
Email tips@brownstoner.com with further comments, questions or tips. Follow Brownstoner on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.