Let's be clear. Hoek in Dutch means Point.. Not "Hook." In the 1800's the Brooklyn Daily Eagle referred to the area as Red Hook Point.
That said, I've been researching more about Red Hook. There is some good information to be found here
"The Dutch established the village of Red Hook (Roode Hoek) in 1636. Red Hook was one of the earliest areas in Brooklyn to be settled. The area was named for its red clay soil and the hook shape of its peninsular corner of Brooklyn that projects into the East River. A map from the 1760s shows a developed village at a time when there was little else in Brooklyn. In the 1850s the Atlantic Basin opened and Red Hook became one of the busiest ports in the country."
My only issue is that the modern Dutch translation service at Altavista translated Roode Hoek back into English as Red Angle. They translate Red Hook as Roode Haak. I'll see if I can get to the bottom of this!
