Image source: Aislinn Ritchie via Flickr.

It can be easy to forget a friend’s birthday, especially when it falls smack in the middle of a hectic holiday season – which is why we’re wishing a belated happy birthday to our much-beloved hood of Bay Ridge!

According to Home Reporter, this past Sunday, December 16, was the 159th anniversary of the day in 1853 when prominent residents of Yellow Hook voted to change the area’s name to Bay Ridge.

The name change was prompted by an outbreak of yellow fever. Not wanting their beautiful bay side hamlet to be associated with the illness, community leaders made the real estate-savvy decision to name the area after the terminal moraine, or ridge, it sits on top of. Continue reading »