Paulus Hook, New Jersey

Paulus Hook is a community on the Hudson River waterfront in Jersey City, New Jersey, located one mile across the river from Manhattan. The name Hook comes from the Dutch word "hoeck" which translates into "point of land." This "point of land" has been described as an elevated area, the location of which is today bounded by Montgomery, Hudson, Dudley and Van Vorst Streets. The neighborhood's main street is the north- and south-running Washington Street. The waterfront of Paulus Hook is along the basin of the Morris Canal in a park with a segment of Liberty State Park. The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail has a Paulus Hook stop at Essex Street and the Liberty Water Taxi at Warren Street. The introduction of the light rail and development of office buildings on the Hudson Waterfront have brought more businesses to Morris Street including a number of restaurants with outdoor seating and small neighborhood shops.

Originally the location was called Arressick or Arisheck Island by the earliest settlers after a corrupted Lenape term, possibly from Kaniskeck meaning a long, grassy marsh or meadow.

The location was originally part of a tract of land purchased by Michael Pauw, an Amsterdam Burgomaster and Lord of Achttienhoven in 1630 as part the Pavonia, the first settlement at Paulus Hook was in 1633. The area was an island at high tide, in 1638 was granted to Pauw's agent, a man named Micheal Paulez (Pauluson, Powles) who operated an occasional ferry and traded with the local Lenape population. His name was eventually anglicized to Paulus, and given to the hook jutting into the river and bay. By permission of Director of New Netherland Willem Kieft Abraham Isaacsen Verplanck Verplanck acquired land at Paulus Hook on May 1, 1638. The Manatus Map of 1639 depicts a land holdings in the nascent province; number 31 is described as the “plantations at Paulus Hook”,

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