Day: July 29, 2026

Emily Myerscough, 40, was last seen at around 9:45 a.m. on Monday, July 27, leaving her Bradford Street residence.

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Nearly 250 years after British troops gathered in South Brooklyn before the Battle of Brooklyn, the Hendrick I. Lott House is inviting visitors to step back into that pivotal moment in American history.

The historic house museum, located at 1940 E. 36th St. between Fillmore Avenue and Avenue S in Marine Park, will mark America’s 250th birthday with a free public event on Aug. 2 exploring the days leading up to the first major military engagement after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The event, titled “Before the Battle,” will feature a panel discussion with archaeologist Dr. Alyssa Loorya, president of Friends of the Lott House and founder and president of Chrysalis Archaeological Consultants, and author Dr. Tom Campanella about the role the Lott House — an 18th-century farmhouse built in 1719 and expanded in 1800 — played during the Revolutionary War. The program also includes a live performance by musical historian Linda Russell, a color guard demonstration by the Sons of the American Revolution’s Battle of Brooklyn Chapter, and a Continental Army camp and officer’s tent display.

Loorya told Brooklyn Paper that when British troops landed in Brooklyn on Aug. 22, 1776, they spread throughout southern Brooklyn, establishing camps, including one on the Lott House property, before marching through the largely unguarded Jamaica Pass to what is now Prospect Park. The surprise maneuver led to the Continental Army’s defeat at the Battle of Brooklyn on Aug. 27, 1776.

“The Lott House is one of those places where everybody was waiting and anticipating,” Loorya explained. “The idea was to give a little bit more background, but also to really honor the patriots who fought for our independence, a nod to those who suffered in the prison ships and passed away, and to commemorate America 250, which happens to coincide with the 100th anniversary of our neighborhood.”

Once the British took control, everyone was forced to take a loyalty oath to the king, Loorya explained. While Johannes Lott pledged allegiance to the King of England, his wife, Jannetje Lott, was a staunch patriot during the American Revolution, donating money to patriotic causes and to support soldiers held on the prison ships.

“There are family stories of how she sank the pewter in the local creek, so the British could not confiscate it to make bullets. Her two sons broke into the British encampment and made away with a fireback shield, which is still in the family today,” Loorya said.

While Johannes Lott was later convicted as a loyalist in a New York state court and had his property confiscated, Jannetje Lott has been recognized by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

“I always thought it was odd that Jannetje was listed as Jannetje Lott of Flatlands, but her husband was always Johannes E. Lott of New Lots. It wasn’t until many years later, when I was doing a deep dive into some revolutionary-era history about the family, that I realized he was a loyalist,” Loorya shared. “I always knew she was a patriot; to put a modern twist on it, it almost looks as if she kicked him out for being a loyalist, but they were living separately.”

For Loorya, history is much more than facts and prominent figures like George Washington or Lord Cornwallis, a leading British general during the American Revolution. It’s also about the people who aren’t mentioned in history books.

“It’s everyday people like Jannetje Lott who was like, ‘Absolutely not. I have an opinion, and I’m going to take a stand.’ And she took her own money and donated it to help the cause for independence,” Loorya said. “So it’s stories like that that happened in your backyard.”

POLICE ARE SEARCHING for a man who fired a gun at another man on the Clinton Hill streets earlier this month.

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