Pest Control in Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Fort Greene sits just east of Downtown Brooklyn, bounded roughly by Flushing Avenue and the Navy Yard to the north, Vanderbilt Avenue and Clinton Hill to the east, and Atlantic Avenue to the south. Its centerpiece is Fort Greene Park, a hilltop green space topped by the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument. The streets around the park, such as South Oxford, Cumberland and Washington Park, are lined with 19th-century brownstones and row houses. The Brooklyn Academy of Music and a growing cultural district anchor the southern edge near Atlantic Terminal. Fort Greene has long been a center of Black cultural life in Brooklyn. The C, G, B, Q, R and 2/3/4/5 trains all stop nearby.
About Fort Greene
The neighborhood takes its name from Fort Greene, a Revolutionary War fort built in 1776 on the hill that later became Fort Greene Park. Walt Whitman campaigned for the park, which opened as Washington Park in 1847 and was later redesigned by Olmsted and Vaux. Brownstones filled the surrounding blocks in the mid-1800s as professionals moved in. The area declined in the mid-twentieth century before a revival beginning in the 1970s, and much of it is now a landmarked historic district.
Common Pest Problems in Fort Greene
Fort Greene Park is a beloved green space, but its dense plantings, picnic areas and trash cans also support rats, which spread into surrounding blocks through backyard gardens and basement areaways. Brownstones built in the 1850s and 1860s have old brick foundations, original wood stairs and countless gaps around pipes and chimneys, so mice are a common issue in fall and winter. The large public housing campuses and restaurant rows along DeKalb and Fulton add to rodent pressure in the area.
German cockroaches travel easily in older apartment buildings and brownstones divided into several units, especially where kitchens share walls. The park's mature oaks and street trees support many gray squirrels, and some make their way into brownstone attics and roof cornices. Residents of older homes also report clothes moths damaging wool rugs, sweaters and upholstered furniture, particularly in closets and storage spaces that rarely see sunlight. Cedar blocks alone rarely stop a well-established infestation.