While the Brooklyn Navy Yard has been closed off to the public for many years, it's now being slowly opening up (and soon you'll be able to go grocery shopping there! Sigh). Today the Daily News looks at what they call the centerpiece of the area's transformation, a museum housing relics from the 210 year history of the facility (as we noted a few years ago, it will also house a community center). It's scheduled to open in November of this year, and BNY Development Corp. president Andrew Kimball told the paper that it "will be a way for the public for the first time since 1801 to penetrate our walls and learn about our history and what we're doing now. We've worked really hard to break down that separation with the community."
The Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at Building 92 (which is what the museum will officially be called, or BNYC92 for short) cost a whopping $25.5 million. Admission, however, will be free—there won't even be an optional donation sign.
Inside the circa-1857 building near Flushing Avenue will be displays curated largely by archivist Daniella Romano, who has been collecting objects for around 7 years. They include old maps, uniforms, issues of magazine that ran stories on the Yard, old bottles dug up in Vinegar Hill, postcards, weapons, personal records, and stories from those who worked there. She's still looking for handmade jewelry created there, however, saying that "guys would get pieces of scrap metal and on their downtime, turn it into bracelets for their wives and girlfriends."
