Newtown Creek Nature Walk — Attraction in New York

This is one of the most surprisingly awesome places in Brooklyn. I love it!

Disclaimer: I am a bit biased since I really like garbage, much more than average I would say. I am actually Oscar the Grouch and I have been gentrified out of my block where all of my friends lived for 40+ years. I sleep here now, displaced from my familiar tight-knit community but in some subtle ways this is a step up. I learned all about the American Indian names for places in the area, some of the old factories, an underground explosion that people thought was a Russian plot, and some of the common plants and trees of the region. It's a true gem for the neighborhood that hardly anyone goes to.

I am trying to change that but it's a little out of the way. I invited my friends Bert and Ernie but they basically dropped off the face of the earth after moving in together. Cookie Monster came by once and ate some barnacles off the concrete on the creek, but it was fine since most of what he eats just falls right out of his mouth.

Sigh... maybe if I wasn't such a jerk to everyone in my old crew they would be more interested in visiting me. Oh well. If you see me here, say hello! I can point out the sludge dock, maybe we can see some piles of...

"Nature" walk might be a bit of a misnomer. But perhaps it's used more like the word "democracy" or "freedom." Something to strive for... Anyway, it's certainly an interesting place with a very cool conceptual stairway that tapers down into the creek's water. But be careful. Newtown Creek is an environmental disaster and is a designated superfund site. In the mid 1800s, the creek was "one of the busiest hubs of industrial activity in New York City. More than 50 refineries were located along its banks, including oil refineries, petrochemical plants, fertilizer and glue factories, sawmills, and lumber and coal yards." Yikes. But I'd say this place is still worth a visit if only for the historic curiosity factor and to show support for what a greener, cleaner and "natural" creek could...

Can't believe this used to be one of the most toxic places in America and have now been converted to modern and nature walkways along the Newtown Creek. George Trakas is an environmental sculptor with a rich vision of history and unique sense of place. His work has been shown in galleries throughout the world, including the Guggenheim and Brooklyn Museums in New York, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, the Louisiana Museum in Denmark, as well as documenta 6 and 8. He has received numerous awards, including two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, in 1979 and 1989, the Founda- tion for Contemporary Arts grant in 2017, and a Merit Medal for Sculpture from the American Academy for Arts and Letters that honored Trakas as a “master-builder and...