Exploring Brooklyn!

It's been such a beautiful weekend (and will hopefully stay that way..), and many of the visitors who come into BHS want to find a way to explore the neighborhood and learn without being stuck inside for too long.  Brooklyn has so many amazing museums, historic spaces, and galleries that sometimes it's too easy to forget that just wandering around can be really enriching.  Aimlessly exploring can discover neat and unexpected points of interest, but for those looking for something more focused or specific, there are tons and tons of wonderful walking tours of the borough.

Of course, my personal preference lies with BHS' very own walking tours.  At our front desk, you can pick up handouts of our Brooklyn Heights tour, which highlights over 20 architectural and historical points in the Society's neighborhood, including a walk down the amazing Promenade and stops at Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth Church and the former homes of Truman Capote, Arthur Miller, and W.E.B. DuBois.  At the same time, you can grab our Park Slope tour.  The web version includes separate tours for North Slope and South Slope, along with Mp3 audio with reflections from locals on the neighborhood.  For a more in depth glimpse into a specific 'hood, check out our Neighborhood Guide collection.  Each Guide (Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Flatbush, Park Slope, DUMBO/Fulton Ferry Landing/Vinegar Hill, and Bay Ridge/Fort Hamilton, and pretty soon Fort Greene) features a walking tour for the area along with historic background. 

If you're looking for something a little more offbeat, check out this Brooklyn Graffiti Tour.  It's mostly centered in Williamsburg, and even if some of the pieces on the map have been covered in the past few months, you're sure to see tons of amazing art in the neighborhood no matter what.  The city produces two walking tours of Brooklyn neighborhoods Bushwick and Bed-Stuy focusing on housing preservation and development.  Self-guided tours like these can also be a neat chance to check out neighborhoods that are a little off the beaten path of your daily life, like Gravesend for me. For something perhaps slightly less uplifting, there's interesting tours of Green-Wood Cemetery (with a Part 2 for the especially ambitious). 

Personally, I'm still determined to even learn how to ride my brand new bike, but for slightly more skilled cyclists, there are tons of awesome Brooklyn bike tours floating around out there.  This beach trek sounds pretty fun, especially if you make time to jump in the ocean or stroll around on the boardwalk.  Equally environmental is this Brooklyn wildlife bike tour.

This is just what a little googling and keeping up with Brooklyn blogs found me.  I know there are many many more walking tours out there with fascinating subjects and enjoyable routes to follow.  There are loads of community organizations that offer guided tours for a small fee, so you can support your local cultural institution as well as hear the thoughts and opinions of your fellow walkers.  There are also a couple of wonderful books that are all about exploring Brooklyn by foot (or wheel, as the case may be), including Walking Brooklynby Adrienne Onofri and The Big Onion Guide to Brooklyn:  Ten Historic Walking Tours (both of which can be conveniently found in BHS gift shop!).  But, I'm still sure I'm missing some great excursions in this abbreviated list- does anyone out there have any favorite walking tours they'd like to mention or link to?  Any neighborhoods that are just great to explore in general?