The Tannery Brook is a small stream in Kingston, NY. The brook flows out of the Twin Ponds, travels downhill along Linderman Ave., crosses under Washington Ave., skirts property lines between Washington Ave. and Green St., and then vanishes beneath the parking lot behind the Ulster County Family Court building. It makes the rest of its journey underground, in a pipe, until it meets the Esopus Creek behind Kingston Plaza.

Tannery Brook at 111 Green St. October 20, 2017.

 

The Tannery Brook's main tributary is the Main Street Brook, which travels downhill along part of Main St. west of Washington Ave. Main Street Brook goes between Emerson St. and Lafayette Ave. before it joins the Tannery Brook, underground, near Lucas Ave. 

Today, both the Tannery Brook and the Main Street Brook are known to the community for causing localized flooding problems. Portions of both streams have been buried and re-engineered. In the 1990s, part of the Tannery Brook was diverted away from its historic channel and into the tunnel beneath Washington Ave. The tunnel carries water from this portion of the Tannery Brook to the Twaalfskill Creek, which flows to the Rondout Creek. The Tannery Brook contributed to the sinkhole that closed Washington Ave. to traffic between 2012 and 2016. While the site is being repaired, the Tannery Brook has been temporarily reconnected to its historic channel. 

 

A map of streams in Kingston, NY, including the Tannery and Main Street Brooks.

 

Kingston residents discuss the Tannery Brook and Main Street Brook.
Videos by Zelda (aka Judith Z. Miller), taken at the Fragmented & Forgotten opening, March 3, 2018.

The Tannery Brook from Ulster County Family Court to Twin Ponds during a flood, April 16, 2018.