If there was a must-visit contest for a neighborhood in Brooklyn, I’d have to put my money on Fort Greene.  Cool without being pretentious, and multicultural without being self conscious, Fort Greene is riddled with history, good food, outdoor spaces, and some very cool neighbors.

Fort Greene Park,  established in 1847, is Brooklyn’s first park, and maybe one of its best.  Originally named Washington Park, the park (and the neighborhood) take their name from a fort built in 1776 under the supervision General Nathanael Greene. At the top of the park is a memorial dedicated to those who died in British prison ships anchored in the East River during the Revolutionary War.  The memorial itself sits on a crypt that holds the remains of these prisoners, a fraction of approximately 11,500 prisoners that died of intentional neglect.  Ugh.  There is nowhere good to go from here.

I’ll leave you with some cool photos of what you’ll find on your Fort Greene jaunt.  Go be sad.  More to follow…

Check out Part II of my post on Fort Greene.