Bartending School in Woodhaven, NY

Jamaica Avenue, the neighborhood’s main thoroughfare, has its beginnings in an ancient Native American trail, the Old Rockaway Trail. The northern boundary of the Rockaway territory was the terminal moraine of the Wisconsin glacier, which formed the ridges of Forest Park. According to the New York City Parks Department, Forest Park was inhabited by the Rockaway and Lenape Native Americans “until the Dutch West India Company settled the area in 1635.” Native Americans in the area used the arrowwood stems prevalent in Forest Park for arrow shafts.

European settlement in Woodhaven began in the mid-18th century as a small town that revolved around farming, with the Ditmar, Lott, Wyckoff, Suydam and Snediker families. British troops successfully flanked General George Washington’s Continental Army by a silent night-march from Gravesend, Brooklyn through the lightly defended “Jamaica Pass” actually located in Brooklyn, to win the Battle of Long Island, Queens-the largest battle of the American Revolutionary War, and the first battle after the Declaration of Independence.

Later, Woodhaven became the site of two racetracks: the Union Course (1821) and the Centerville (1825). Union Course was a nationally famous racetrack situated in the area now bounded by 78th Street, 82nd Street, Jamaica Avenue and Atlantic Avenue. The Union Course was the site of the first skinned-or dirt-racing surface, a novelty at the time. These courses were originally without grandstands. The custom of conducting a single, four-mile (6 km) race consisting of as many heats as were necessary to determine a winner, gave way to programs consisting of several races. Match races between horses from the South against those from the North drew crowds as high as 70,000. Several hotels (including the Snedeker Hotel and the Forschback Inn) were built in the area to accommodate the racing crowds.