When Robert Fulton's steam ferries started regular services across the East River in the early 19th century, well-to-do Manhattanites began building stellar houses – Victorian Gothic, Romanesque, neo-Greco, Italianate and others – in Brooklyn Heights.
Strolling along the tree-lined streets to gaze at them now is a lovely afternoon activity; don't miss the 1881 Queen Anne–style landmark building that houses the Brooklyn Historical Society, which features a library (with some 33,000 grainy digitized photos from decades past), auditorium and museum devoted to the borough. The society also leads several walking tours.
Follow Montague St, the Heights' main commercial avenue, down to the waterfront until you hit the Brooklyn Heights Promenade , which juts out over the Brooklyn−Queens Expwy to offer stunning views of Lower Manhattan. Underneath the Expwy is the Brooklyn Bridge Park , an 85-acre development of landscaped green space and pathways, built on piers stretching from the Brooklyn Bridge south to Atlantic Ave.
The 1848 beaux-arts Brooklyn Borough Hall straddles both Brooklyn Heights and downtown Brooklyn, characterized by its various courts. The small but fascinating New York Transit Museum has an amazing collection of original subway cars and transit memorabilia dating back more than a century. Near downtown Brooklyn is the Barclays Center , home to the Brooklyn Nets pro basketball team and the NHL team the New York Islanders.
