Coenties Slip Block

In nautical terms, a slip is a water space dug between piers for arriving ships; New York City at one time had twelve slips that ran from the Battery up to the Brooklyn Bridge, which were dug out in the mid-seventeenth century by enslaved people when the Dutch controlled Manhattan. Coenties Slip was longer than most, running from Pearl Street—the oldest street in the city—down to the East River.