'Walt Whitman Way Day' To Celebrate Poet's Street Naming In BK

CLINTON HILL, BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn street corner will officially be known as Walt Whitman Way after a celebration this weekend complete with poets and Whitman enthusiasts.

Elected officials and advocates for the Brooklyn-born poet will gather at the intersection of Ryerson Street and Dekalb Avenue on Saturday to officially name the street "Walt Whitman Way," a co-name that passed the the City Council over the summer.

The intersection is just a few blocks from Whitman's former home, which activists with The Walt Whitman Initiative have been trying to preserve for the last few years.

Saturday's celebration will a step towards honoring the poet in his neighborhood and the latest Whitman marker this year for what would have been his 200th birthday.

“Brooklyn has always brought big ideas to the world, and we’re ready to commemorate another Brooklynite whose artistic work and influence has spread globally,” Council Member Laurie Cumbo said in a release. “Walt Whitman was a cultural icon, visionary, and a true artist in every sense of the word. I am proud to see his legacy live on in my district.”

The City Council approved naming the corner of Ryerson Street and Dekalb Avenue after Whitman as part of a bill that renamed 86 streets and places across the city for significant people.

Saturday's event, which is free and will happen rain or shine, will include a walking tour of Whitman-related sites called the “Walt WhitmanRamble” before the ceremony. The tour departs from the High Street subway stop on Cadman Plaza West at 2 p.m. Tour-goers will walk to the ceremony, which starts at 3 p.m.

“We’re excited for the co-naming. It helps to remind people that Walt Whitman lived and emerged as America’s poet right here in the streets of Brooklyn,” said Brad Vogel, who is with the coalition to save the Ryerson Street house. “We still have a chance to protect his last remaining NYC home a few blocks from the co-naming site by designating it a city landmark for the benefit of future generations.”

The 99 Ryserson Street house was one of more than 30 houses Whitman and his family lived in as they bounced around New York City in the early-to-mid 19th century. It is the last one standing in New York City where the poet lived and the home where he finished perhaps his most famous poem "Leaves of Grass." The home has since been nicknamed the "Leaves of Grass house."

"Our next step is to landmark the very house in which he realized these monumental achievements, preserving this simple, strong structure to inspire Walt's "Poets to Come," one of the initiative's leader's Karen Karbiener said.

The efforts to designate the home a landmark were renewed this year by the initiative and other organizations as they celebrated Whitman's 200th birthday on May 31 and throughout the year. A petition about the designation has garnered about 5,700 signatures.

The home first landed on a list of significant sites in LGBTQ history that members with the Landmark Preservation Commission wanted to consider several years ago. But, those members ran into roadblocks from others who leaned more toward the belief that landmark status should be reserved for buildings that are architecturally interesting.