Beaver Street / Bushwick Ave

How does one celebrate the beginning of a new school year?

By walking Bushwick Ave from where it meets Beaver all the way to its end at the mouth of the Jackie Robinson Parkway. And, from there, finding my way to Broadway Junction so I can get home.

And so excited was I that I forgot to take any video, as explained below. Since I walked about a mile before I even got to Bushwick Ave, it slipped my mind to take a picture. (And there's the fact that I passed one of my coworkers who I'd just left at school that that long before. I guess she lives in the area near Flushing Ave.)

I had already walked Bushwick Ave as far as Arion Place when I made my way to Lewis Ave, so I walked down Grand Street to Humboldt St so I could walk the few blocks of Beaver Street that merges into (and basically becomes) Bushwick Ave. I'll be honest in that I wasn't intending on walking all the way to the Jackie Robinson Parkway, but that's what happened.

It also seems that no matter which way I walk in Bushwick, I feel like I'm walking uphill. Maybe I just don't notice the downhills.

The first two pictures are Beaver Street and then the merge with Bushwick Ave.

After that I came upon a few churches (including one I didn't photograph because I knew I got it when I was coming the other way).

First is the South Buswick Church, which took several tries to get a photo without a truck or car in the photo. Their website didn't give me any information about their founding or about the building.

Next is Calvary & St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church, which was built in 1903 but the congregation dates back to 1869.

Diagonally across the street from there is Mount of Olives Seventh-day Adventist Church, which may have been built in 1961. I say "may" because I'm confused by their website. For one thing, there's a black and white photo that looks like mine -- except it's reversed, so I don't know if it's a different building or if the image is just backward. I can't read the street sign.

Wide-open sidewalk with trees and nice buildings and ... okay, I don't remember why I took this when I'd been taken pictures of churches, but I do like trees. Next is another old building, which was notable enough that the Internet told me it was built in 1888 in the Queen Anne Architectural Style by architect Frank Keith Irving, aka F.K. Irving. And then the Bushwick Avenue Congregational Church, constructed in 1894-96 which is currently occupied by the Bethesda Memorial Baptist Church.

The final church on this route (and, again, I didn't take pictures of all the ones I passed!) is St Thomas Episcopal Church. Built in 1915, the church is a very modern version of an English Gothic church, a sturdy and mighty fortress.

Now I'm in the home stretch! This section of Bushwick Ave is past the start of Eastern Parkway, and past where I'd walked before when I'd taken the L train to Bushwick Ave/Aberdeen Street. After that is the entrance to the cemetery.

The plan was to get to Broadway Junction, but I didn't really know where I was going -- and it was sunny and difficult to read my phone. I think I knew that the Jackie Robinson was ahead of me, but I was still a little surprised that it was so close. Back before I started this project, I worked on Pennsylvania Ave, near Livonia, and walked up to the highway once. In my mind, that was still "far away" from where I was. Brooklyn is smaller than I think it is sometimes.

Circle around and get back to the A train. I wanted Fulton Street, but the sign said Herkimer and it curved away. I didn't realize that Fulton was literally running right next to it. So I stayed on East New York Ave for another block, turned up Williams Place, and finally got to the station.

And that's it for this trip. Come back soon.

All of the above photos and videos, unless otherwise stated, were taken by Christopher J. Burke and are subject to copyright.

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