Canarsie

Canarsie, in southeast Brooklyn on Jamaica Bay, takes its name from the Canarsee, a Lenape-speaking people who lived on the bay’s shores. It is a largely residential area with a large Caribbean community, and Canarsie Pier is part of Gateway National Recreation Area.

Canarsie takes its name from the Canarsee people, who fished and farmed around Jamaica Bay long before the Dutch arrived. In the nineteenth century the area was known for its oyster beds and fishing villages, and in the early twentieth century it became a resort of bungalows, boat docks and beaches. After the Second World War it filled with new housing, first for Italian and Jewish families, and since the 1980s it has become a largely Caribbean community, with large Haitian and Jamaican populations.

The shoreline is the neighbourhood’s biggest asset. Canarsie Pier, part of Gateway National Recreation Area, offers fishing, picnics, sunsets and views across Jamaica Bay, and it is one of the few places in Brooklyn where you can walk out over open water. Canarsie Park has sports fields and the Seaview Avenue corridor leads toward Fresh Creek and marshland that attract birds, making it a quiet place for a morning walk.

The L train ends here at Canarsie–Rockaway Parkway, which gives direct service to Williamsburg and Manhattan, and express buses serve riders who travel to Midtown and Downtown. Rockaway Parkway and Remsen Avenue are the main commercial streets, with Caribbean restaurants, bakeries, barbershops, churches and small shops, and the neighbourhood has a strong tradition of homeownership, block associations and community groups.

Because Canarsie sits at the edge of Jamaica Bay, parts of it flood during storms, as Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and more recent heavy-rain events showed. If you buy or rent here, check the property’s flood zone and your insurance options, and sign up for Notify NYC emergency alerts. Local community boards and civic groups meet regularly, and they are the best way to follow transport, flood-protection and development projects.