1636: Red Hook is settled by Dutch colonists from New Amsterdam

They named the area “Roode Hoek,” meaning “red point.” The name refers to the reddish color of the clay soil and the hook-shaped point that protruded out into the Upper New York Bay around what is now Dikeman Street west of Ferris Street.  Those who live in the eastern area of Red Hook have called that neighborhood “The Point” since the 1880s.

Citation: http://redhookwaterfront.com/2015/10/heres-how-red-hooks-fort-defiance-changed-the-revolutionary-war/

Photo by George Bradford Brainerd via Brooklyn Public Library