Background

The East River is located on the East side of Manhattan and the west side of Brooklyn and Queens. The East river is not really a river because it has no source and flows into the Long Island Sound at the Throngs Neck bridge and into the New York Harbor at the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. This is called a strait. The East River is also one of the many estuaries in the New York Harbor with brackish water. An estuary is an area that allows for mixing of fresh and salt water together. Brackish water is a mixture of fresh and salt water.
One historical place on the East River is the South Street Seaport, because it has includes places like Fulton Street and Fulton Fish Market. Fulton Street was the only street in lower Manhattan that stretched from the East River to the Hudson River until the World Trade Center site was built, making it a major throughfare in the nineteenth century. Fulton Street was named after Robert Fulton, whose steam ferry boat was the first ferry to run from Fulton Street to Brooklyn in 1814. The Fulton Market at the South Street Seaport today is called the Fourth Market. The original Fulton Market opened in 1822. It was one of New York City's system of food distribution.
The East River is 16 miles long and 600-4,000 feet wide.
By Monique Campbell Section 1