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Community Corner

Walking With Whitman

Strolling around the neighborhood to look at some old haunts of an American literary icon.

As one walks around the streets of Fort Greene, he or she will likely not see etched anywhere the words: "Walt Whitman Was Here."

Despite the frequent use of the past tense when it comes to one of the neighborhood's most famous residents, the indelible impressions of this iconoclastic American author are omnipresent throughout the Fort Greene—just ask anyone who is in the know.

"We see traces of him [Whitman] in many places around Fort Greene. It's just that most of us are not attuned to it," said Dr. Matt Gold, assistant professor of English at the New York City College of Technology.

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Gold, who runs a special program at the CUNY City Tech called, "Looking for Whitman," which retraces the steps of the literary giant through Brooklyn, was able to quickly point out several key Fort Greene landmarks.

"The most prevalent is the prison ship martyrs monument in Fort Greene Park, though I wonder how many people actually know this little bit of Fort Greene trivia," he said with a tinge of disappointment.

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A shame, agreed Greg Trupiano of the Walt Whitman project—another Whitman-Fort Greene aficionado—who hosts walking tours around the area that highlight the many haunts and secret hangouts of the great American poet. 

"Surprisingly 60 percent of the people I take out on my tour are surprised to learn that Whitman—through the use of editorials published in the [Brooklyn] Eagle, a now defunct newspaper—was responsible for the funding of Fort Greene Park," Trupiano said.  

Equally as upsetting to Trupiano was the fact that all but one of the residence Whitman lived in during his time in Fort Greene have long since vanished.

"Save a small plaque dedicated to Whitman on the Eagle storage building that now sits on top of the space the Brooklyn Eagle used to occupy, you wouldn't even know he [Whitman] was here at all," Trupiano said.

On a mission to remind everyone just how important Whitman was to the Fort Greene of yore, Trupiano carries on the torch of knowledge.

"There really is some wonderful Whitman history here in Fort Greene and Brooklyn. My goal is to educate people about it," he said.

For more information on the Whitman Projects Historic Walking Tours visit them online here.

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