Hoogh Straet — who has ever heard of it? Yet it used to run just behind the town hall, the Stadt Huys, on Manhattan Island when the town was New Amsterdam.
New Amsterdam Stadt Huys
Slick Steegh, Brouwer Straet, Brugh Straet, all were contained within the warren of unpaved streets between the East River and the Hudson. We don’t know them anymore. Well… some continue to exist, and when you walk them you are walking into history. Stone Street, Broadway, Pearl Street were as alive and bustling in 1663 as they are today, if a bit more pungent. Broad Street was broad because a canal ran through it. The Stadt Huys served the town long and well before becoming a tavern.
Jean Zimmerman 