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Family-friendly exhibition Waterfront at Brooklyn Historical Society in DUMBO opening

Brooklyn Historical Society has opened Waterfront, a multimedia exhibition that brings to life the vibrant history of Brooklyn’s coastline through interwoven stories of workers, industries, activists, innovators, families, neighborhoods, and ecosystems.  

It features a floor-to-ceiling sculptural installation of more than 80 archaeological artifacts and fragments excavated from the landfill beneath Empire Stores in the 1970s and a 14-foot reproduction of an 1879 lithograph of Brooklyn’s waterfront. 

Two multimedia installations allow visitors to travel back into the coastline’s history. At Water’s Edge introduces visitors to the waterfront’s dynamic history through ten epic historical moments stretching over 20,000 years. Nearby, History in Motion drops visitors into historic paintings and photographs and weaves their actions into a 60-second movie starring themselves.

Workers and families are a central theme in the exhibition. An Unfree Waterfront highlights the moving and untold stories of three enslaved Brooklynites and their struggle for freedom along the shoreline. Factory Women lets visitors explore artifacts and listen to oral histories of female Navy Yard workers during World War II; a dress-up experience lets kids don work clothing and try their hand at ship fitting.

The exhibition also looks at the present and future of the borough’s shoreline. Visitors explore salvaged materials and graffiti from the late 20th-century when abandoned warehouses dotted the shoreline.  

Children and adults can design their own waterfront neighborhood using whimsical magnets of buildings, bridges, animals, landmarks, and more on a ten-foot illustrated landscape.

Waterfront at BHS DUMBO (55 Water Street, Brooklyn) will be open to the public Tuesday to Thursday from 11 am to 6 pm, Friday and Saturday from 11 am to 8 pm, and Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm.  Suggested admission is $10 for adults (kids are free).

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