It all started on a day in May in 1814, the business of getting safely and easily across the #EastRiver to #Brooklyn that is. Of course there was no Brooklyn, the village not being incorporated until 2 years later, and the proud city of that name was nothing but a wild dream ...

.. in the mind’s eye of real estate boosters like the Hicks, Middagh, Pierrepont & Remsen families, albeit a dream that #RobertFulton’s #Nassau seemed likely to make a great deal more real, the #LongIsland Star calling the new ferry ‘a sure harbinger of future weal & prosperity’.

Making the crossing were 549 passengers, one cart and three horses, all distracted from any disquiet by a scary-looking German dude whom Fulton had hired to sell candy and more terrifyingly, given the crush aboard, firecrackers. As it transpired, there was no cause for concern ..

.. and these first commuters completed their transit in ease and comfort ‘as if passing over a bridge’ per the press. It was a day of triumph and tragedy, the first in a 50 year career for ferry captain Peter Coffee, and the last for ship’s engineer Lewis Rhoda who became ...

.. entangled in the Nassau’s machinery and would not live past sunset. So take advantage of a lovely fall weekend and get thee to #Brooklyn. You can take the subway or walk the #BrooklynBridge, each an example of that ‘weal and prosperity’ that #Fulton’s ferry ushered in, or ...

... splurge the $2.75 and cross the river Fulton-style, on one of the vessels of the #NYCFerry service. There’s no livestock and likely no scary-looking German dude with fireworks or other incendiaries. The views are to die for and nothing beats an autumnal day on the water.

And when you arrive, go #AllInBrooklyn, grab a bite in one of the al fresco eateries and explore with our #BrooklynBound app, available free this week wherever you get your apps, as part of @NYCgo’s #AllInNYC campaign.
#NewYork, a city of stories; fall in love with it all over.