The stoop — it’s a Breukelen tradition!
Flatlands’ Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum — the oldest building in the borough — is inviting families to come hang out on its “stoep” on July 28 and take part in a rich and distinctively Brooklyn style of socializing, one that can be traced all the way back to Dutch farmers who built the farmhouse 451 years ago.
Museum director Joshua Van Kirk noted that the word “stoop” has its roots in the Dutch term for “porch,” and that during warm weather, the old Wyckoff family frequently hosted friends and neighbors on the long gallery that once fronted the structure — which today is just the size of a brownstone’s steps.
“It was cooler than being inside during the summertime, and so it was a place to eat, drink, socialize, just have fun,” said Van Kirk.
Of course, the solemn rite of shooting the breeze in front of somebody’s house has changed a lot over the centuries, and the museum intends to honor that, too — with hopscotch and dominoes, hot dogs and lemonade, and even a performance by neighborhood steel drum musicians. Acclaimed Brooklyn-born storyteller Robin Bady will also stop by to regale listeners with tales of stoops past. There will also be colonial-era games like ninepins, and a special tour of the last-of-its-kind farmhouse.
“We try to relate our programs back to the Dutch period,” said Van Kirk.
Summer Stoop at the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum [5816 Clarendon Road, between E. 59th Street and Ralph Avenue in Flatlands, (718) 629–5400] July 28, 1 pm. Free.
