12
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MARCH 17, 2019
A woman about town!
Tour of Gravesend Cemetery honors nabe’s female founder
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
She’s a Lady among Kings!
Department of Parks and Recreation
leaders this month are
hosting a free tour of Gravesend
Cemetery that focuses on the
neighborhood’s female founder,
who also helped develop much
of the southern swath of Kings
County. Lady Deborah Moody —
the fi rst woman to establish and
run a colonial town, and a proponent
of religious freedom during
an era of sectarianism — was
a 17th-century trailblazer whose
legacy deserves to be honored as
part of Women’s History Month,
according to the park ranger who
led similar tours in years past.
“Lady Moody was way ahead
of her time as a progressive and
accomplished leader, so she is a
perfect historical role model to
highlight for Women’s History
Month,” said Andrew Brownjohn.
This year, Park Ranger Mike
Veres will lead the third-annual
tour on March 17, taking participants
on an hour-and-a-half
trek through time at the burial
ground on Village Road South
between Van Sicklen Street and
McDonald Avenue. The program
will focus mainly on Moody,
whom historians believe is likely
buried in the graveyard that was
established around the time she
died in the late 1650s, according
to Brownjohn.
But even though the exact location
of Moody’s fi nal resting
place is unknown, the pioneering
settler is still a presence in
the neighborhood she founded.
In 2016, the city landmarked her
home directly across from the
cemetery, at 27 Gravesend Neck
Rd. between Van Sicklen Street
and McDonald Avenue. And a
nearby plot of land about a block
away from that property bears
both Moody’s name and a plaque
noting her role as the town’s
founder.
Born in England in 1586,
Moody fl ed her homeland to settle
in Massachusetts as a religious
dissident around 1640, according
to a New York Times report . But
she again faced religious persecution
just a couple of years after
settling in her new home, this
time from local Puritans, who
condemned her belief in Anabaptism
— which rejects baptizing
infants — and excommunicated
her from their church, reported
Mental Floss . Moody ultimately
fl ed Massachusetts for the Big
Apple — known then as New Amsterdam
— because of its reputation
as the country’s most tolerant
city at the time, according to
the Times.
Moody arrived in the Borough
of Churches in 1643, and
purchased land from the Native
American Canarsie tribe before
she offi cially founded Gravesend
two years later, the Times reported.
She derived the name for
the municipality from her British
hometown Gardson, according
to the Times, which reported
that the town’s charter was the
“fi rst ever granted to a woman in
the new world,” and the “fi rst land
document granting freedom of religious
beliefs to its inhabitants.”
Following her formation of the
town, Moody went on to create its
government, start a local school,
and establish a church there, according
to the Parks Department .
She also went on to purchase
more land in the general area , designing
the original villages of
what are now the neighborhoods
of Bensonhurst, Coney Island,
Sheepshead Bay, and Midwood.
But the legacy of Moody, who
died in 1659, extends well beyond
Gravesend. Her original layout of
the town — which then was the
size of twelve football fi elds, with
the intersection of McDonald Avenue
and Gravesend Neck Road
at its center — inspired the current
grid system for streets that
city planners adopted more than
a century later, according to the
Times .
Gravesend remained a rural
town for much of the two centuries
after Moody died, drawing
more Dutch and German settlers,
before it offi cially became part
of the city of Brooklyn in 1894 —
four years before Kings County
offi cially merged with New York
City, according to the Parks Department.
And Moody won’t be the only
lady interred in Gravesend Cemetery
that the upcoming tour highlights.
The program will also pay
homage to late local maid Viola
Jackson, who died at 22-yearsold
in 1914 when her dress caught
fi re after she dropped and tripped
over a watermelon while holding
a candle .
Incorporating the stories of
regular residents in addition to
those of more notable locals will
show attendees how the lives of
both shaped the neighborhood
as we know it today, according to
Brownjohn.
Women’s History Month Tour
of Gravesend Cemetery (Village
Road South between Van Sicklen
St. and McDonald Ave. in Gravesend,
www.nycgovparks.org).
March 17 at 11 am. Free.
AHEAD OF HER TIME: Park Ranger
Mike Veres will lead a free tour of Gravesend
Cemetery focusing on Lady
Deborah Moody on March 17.
Department of Parks and Recreation
Dr. Natalie Marks is the first
board-certified female vascular
medicine specialist in Brooklyn,
bringing a unique perspective to
this important field of medicine.
She works as an integral part
of the vascular surgery team of
The Vascular Institute of New
York, which offers a full spectrum
of surgical and endovascular
methods for treatment of
vascular disorders, working
under the directorship of worldrenowned
vascular surgeon Dr.
Enrico Ascher.
Dr. Marks is proud to be part
of the team.
“At the Vascular Institute of
New York, we strive to offer each
patient the most effective and
the least invasive diagnostic and
treatment options for the management
of their vascular conditions,”
she says.
Combining expertise, empathy,
and compassion, Dr. Marks
is able to provide her patients
with exceptional care, treating
issues such as varicose veins, spider
veins, non-healing wounds,
peripheral arterial disease, and
more with minimum invasive
procedures.
“I am there for each patient,
every step of the way,” she says.
She gladly discusses individual
cases with referring physicians,
and is available to see patients
in consultation, actively
participating in perioperative
care for those undergoing various
vascular procedures. Together,
the doctors will evaluate
all patients’ comorbidities, assess
all risks, and will make recommendations
for the most comprehensive
vascular care.
Like Dr. Ascher — who has
published more than 250 scientific
articles in medical journals,
and more than 65 textbook chapters
— Dr. Marks, too, is a leader
in the field. She has authored
more than 100 scientific articles
in peer-reviewed journals and 16
textbook chapters. She has lectured
extensively about various
vascular topics, sharing expertise
with peers around the globe.
“She brings a new dimension
in the care of patients with vascular
diseases,” says Dr. Ascher.
“She highlights the importance
of medical management to avoid
surgery whenever possible.”
Dr. Marks is skilled in all the
latest techniques in dealing with
stroke prevention, aneurysms,
peripheral arterial disease, and
in caring for patients with conditions
that cause leg pain and
swelling. Often leg swelling — a
common condition — is an indication
that veins are not working
properly.
The Vascular Institute of New
York is a leader in the care of
limb salvage, developing pioneering
techniques, and saving limbs
that others thought couldn’t be
saved.
The Vascular Institute of New
York is a state-of-the-art facility,
with an attractive office and
highly trained staff of professionals.
Some of the highlights
include on-site fully accredited
and federally certified operating
room, recovery room, staff
anesthesiologist, intravascular
ultrasound, and a state-of-the-art
wound care center.
“Our team strives to offer
each patient the most effective
and the least invasive diagnostic
and treatment options for
the management of their vascular
conditions,” says Dr. Marks.
“We are committed to providing
patients with the most upto
date treatments for vascular
disease.”
Make an appointment today.
Vascular Institute of New York
960 50th St. between Ninth and
10th avenues in Borough Park,
(718) 438–3800 or 9920 Fourth
Ave., suite 303, between Third and
Fourth avenues in Bay Ridge.
Open Mondays – Fridays, 8 am–6
pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 8
am–1 pm. Most major insurance
plans are accepted.
BUS INES S , B ROOKLYN S T Y LE
Vascular Institute of New York making strides in Brooklyn
/www.nycgovparks.org
/www.nycgovparks.org)