What Fresh Pond?: Uncovering the Wetlands of Greater Ridgewood.
May 2023
In partnership with the Municipal Arts Society Jane’s Walk Festival
Those who have encountered Fresh Pond Rd often wonder where this busy asphalt throughway got its name. While many of the streets in Queens were renamed with a numbering system in the early 20th Century, Fresh Pond Road has kept its name for over 200 years. The original path was forged centuries ago by Lenape people and is still used actively by present-day New Yorkers. Using the naming of this road as an entry point, this tour explores the ecological and political histories which have shaped the natural and cultural landscape of Ridgewood and Maspeth, Queens, and reveals the site of the former ponds.
(Nearby Strack Pond is pictured)
Queens Name Explorer Walking Tour: Ridgewood
October, 2022
In partnership with The Queens Memory Project and Open House New York
In celebration of the Launch of the Queens Name Explorer project in the fall of 2021, The Queens Memory Project and OHNY presented a series of tours throughout the borough of Queens. I had the honor of leading the tour of my home neighborhood, Ridgewood. Ridgewood was one of the first neighborhoods in Queens to be urbanized, in the early 20th century the area saw a drastic shift from farmland to rowhouses and factories in the span of only two decades. This guided walking tour explores the political, cultural, and architectural history of Ridgewood, Queens through the lens of named streets, parks, and schools.