Guest Post: Gene Ritter The Discovery of the Dreamland Pier Part I

The Discovery of the Dreamland Pier Part I 

By Gene Ritter

Years before the discovery of the Dreamland Bell I made the discovery of the Dreamland Pier. It was a cold January winter day back in 1988 when I walked into a bookstore that sold used books. I was researching old shipwrecks. I stumbled across a book titled Old Brooklyn. I opened the book and what I saw was a photograph of an old pier which dated back to 1881. It was a photograph of the New Iron Pier also known as the Dreamland Pier. It also had the location which was W. 5th St. and Surf Avenue. I said to myself, “how can that be.” I lived in Brighton Beach and Coney Island all my life. I never knew about this pier since there are no traces of the existence of a pier. Intrigued with this information I decided to further my research and I made a trip to the New York public library map room in Manhattan. I could not believe my eyes, the map showed that there were two piers side-by-side only 400 feet apart extending out fifteen hundred feet into the ocean. At that moment I knew I was on the verge of making a significant underwater discovery. After careful planning all winter I made the discovery of the Dreamland Pier on a single solo dive in the spring season of 1988. Since that time I have recovered hundreds of artifacts that have been displayed in schools and libraries.