Williamsburg Waterfront

This walk along the East River waterfront of Williamsburg will move from south to north, and will include the site of the old Schaefer Brewery, the Williamsburg Bridge, the Domino sugar refinery that is in the process of being converted into luxury waterfront housing, Grand Ferry Park, the Austin, Nichols warehouse, and more. We will consider the remarkable history of waterfront industry in Williamsburg, industrial decline, gentrification, rezoning, and Williamsburg today–a byword for the changing fortunes of certain American cities in the 21st century, a far cry from as recently as when your guide first led groups through what was, in the early 1990s, a rapidly deindustrializing, down-at-heel, raffish neighborhood.