One of the newest waterfront promenades now extends, with brief interruptions, from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade via Fulton Ferry Landing just south of the Brooklyn Bridge to a brand-new park laid out between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.

The rewards are many, from wonderful views of active East River barge and boat traffic and the always impressive Manhattan skyline to a leafy serene waterfront park for strolling, reading, throwing a Frisbee and picnicking, combined with a look into Brooklyn's industrial past and one of the borough's emerging new-style commercial and residential neighborhoods.

On the ground floors of several buildings, there are snack, café and full restaurant facilities, and if the day is fine, take a picnic to the benches and tables along East River shore.

1- Consider beginning your walk at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and walk to the north end then continue through Columbia Heights and down through the Jehovah's Witnesses complex to Old Fulton Street and turn left to Fulton Ferry Landing in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge (1883). Note the helpful historical plaques on the railings and on the landing deck and linger a bit to enjoy this delightful spot.

While a ferry began operating from here in the 18^th century, it was Robert Fulton's steam ferry Nassau (1814) shuttling between Fulton Street Manhattan and Fulton Street Brooklyn that spurred development on the Brooklyn side. Ferry service ended in 1924, but it has now restarted with a limited New York Water Taxi schedule. Information is posted here.

Nearby buildings date from the mid-19^th century, and the most notable are the brick former Eagle Warehouse (1893); a former bank building at No. 1 Front Street (1868-69); former Marine Company 7 firehouse (1924) with a tower (depicted above) for drying fire hoses; and Bargemusic, a longstanding occasional venue for concerts.

2- View is across the East River to Lower Manhattan with a Reinauer tug and barge heading under the Brooklyn Bridge. The Woolworth Building dominates the skyline and the white Verizon Building looms behind the Manhattan tower of the Brooklyn Bridge.

3- To reach the new Fulton Ferry State Park divert slightly through the flower gardens of the River Café, a restaurant (expensive) and bar built partly on a barge, and continue for five minutes along a dreary stretch of Water Street then turn left toward the river just after the brick shell of the Empire Stores (1869). There are restroom facilities just down to the right, and inside the foyer black and white photos show the waterfront in earlier industrial days.

4 - From Fulton Ferry State Park, a Circle Line sightseeing boat is headed up the East River to circumnavigate Manhattan. The Verizon Building looms behind, and both waterside benches and a shaded picnic table are visible.

5 - The view along the path is flanked by the shadow of the Empire Stores, a post-Civil War-era warehouse complex to the left and the curving East River shoreline to the right.

6- A gutted Empire Stores building, the Watchtower Headquarters and a bit of downtown Brooklyn are seen beneath the span of the Brooklyn Bridge. The Empire Stores, once warehousing green coffee beans and tobacco, will eventually become a festival marketplace and cultural center.

7- Looking north, the Brooklyn-side Manhattan Bridge tower (1909) looms in the background to the right of a weeping willow planted in Fulton Ferry State Park.

8 - Perhaps the most identifiable building is The Clock Tower (1915), originally Gair Building No. 7 at 1 Main Street. Robert Gair built an industrial empire on the manufacture of corrugated cardboard boxes, and the result was an outstanding complex of twelve early reinforced concrete buildings. The Clock Tower is now condominiums, designed by Beyer Blinder Belle, and the other former Gair buildings (mostly still labeled as such) serve both commercial and artistic but increasingly residential uses.

9 - A new park playground with a maritime theme has the Brooklyn Bridge as its backdrop.

10 - The park continues under the Manhattan Bridge with subway trains rumbling loudly overhead. The view is across the East River to housing projects on the Lower East Side. The former banana unloading piers begin just to the right.

11 - The park presently ends short of some flowering weeds with Con Edison's Hudson Avenue generating station ahead in the distance, located just downriver from the former Brooklyn Navy Yard, now a ship repair facility and light industrial zone.

12 - This short block is named the Anchorage because it is adjacent to the Manhattan's Bridge's Brooklyn stone anchorage. The atmosphere is of a fading industrial section, and the neighborhood's name DUMBO or Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass is nowhere more appropriate. As you walk about, note the railroad tracks in the pavement, with some angling off towards now sealed up building entrances.

13 - The Brooklyn waterfront as it looked when break bulk shipping dominated the waterfront from below the Brooklyn Heights promenade and Brooklyn-Queen Expressway to the right and on past the Brooklyn Bridge. What eventually became Jehovah's Witnesses' headquarters dominates the skyline just short of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Gair Buildings fill the gap (now called DUMBO) between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and some shorter piers can be seen directly on the waterfront where the Fulton Ferry State Park is now laid out. At the top right smoke is emanating from the Con Edison plant, while top center is the Williamsburg Bridge (1903) and top left are housing projects on Manhattan's Lower East Side.