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Inside the Atlantic Ave. Subway Tunnel
By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 20, 2008
Modified Oct 20, 2008
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 20, 2008
Modified Oct 20, 2008
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Recently a group traveled underground to the oldest subway tunnel in the world, rediscovered by Bob Diamond in 1980. It's dark, dirty and allegedly filled with ghosts! Located on Atlantic Avenue, it sounds like the perfect place for a haunted Halloween. Here's some more info on the mysterious underground space, that long went hidden.
The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel was built in seven months in 1844 by the Long Island Rail Road to relieve congestion in downtown Brooklyn. It was part of a rail network that eventually took passengers to Boston. For mainly political reasons, it was closed not too many years after it opened; the last train ran through it in 1859. In 1861, the tunnel was sealed up. In time, it became sort of an urban legend, and many stories were born about it and what uses some people may be putting it to.
surrounding the tunnel included the FBI suspecting German terrorists were making bombs there, which was followed by murmurs of mushroom growing and bootleg whiskey stills being housed there. These stories, as well those of spies and dead bodies, both warranted the unsealing and resealing of the tunnel.
Forgotten-NY points out that even Walt Whitman acknowledged the tunnel, writing: "The old tunnel, that used to lie there under ground, a passage of Acheron-like solemnity and darkness, now all closed and filled up, and soon to be utterly forgotten, with all its reminiscences." More photos of the tunnel (around 2000 feet) here, and the Brooklyn Historic Railway Association has more visuals regarding its history.
Tagged
atlantic avenue
Atlantic Avenue subway tunnel
brooklyn
history
tour
underground
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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