What's in a name?
- The name Weehawken is generally considered to have evolved from the Lenape (or Delaware Indian), in whose contemporary language the word "wikweko" means "at the end of". Variations in Dutch and English have included Awiehawken, Wiehacken, Weehauk, Weehawk, and Weehock.
- Weehawken Street is located in Greenwich Village, one block from the Hudson River at Christopher Street. During the colonial era it was the site of a ferry landing and market where fresh produce was brought to Manhattan from farms across the river.[16]
- The USS Weehawken, launched on November 5, 1862, was a Passaic-class monitor, or ironclad ship, which sailed for the Union Navy during the American Civil War, encountered battles at the Charleston, South Carolina coast, and sank in a moderate gale on December 6, 1863.
- Weehawken Cemetery is located in nearby North Bergen.
That's funny
- Weehawken (though misspelled in a caption as "Weehauken") was humorously slighted in the TV series Futurama as being the prior location of the rather ramshackle Democratic Order Of Planets (DOOP) headquarters, which was destroyed.
- In the TV series Sex and The City, the star was advised to seek a cheap apartment in town.
- Weehawken is referred to in many Dr. Seuss stories, most notably The Lorax.
- Wee Willie Weehawken is a character in Boys' Ranch, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, and published by Harper Comics in the 1950's.
- In the TV sit-com Petticoat Junction, a swindler registers at a hotel as being from Weehawken.
That's interesting
- The Weehawken Water Tower is cited on the Federal Maritime Chart as the "Red Tower", and serves as warning to ships traveling south along the Hudson that they are approaching New York Bay.
- Both reservoirs in Weehawken were named for the river from which water was pumped into them: Hackensack Number One (demolished) and Hackensack Number Two
- The United Fruit Company, with its operations on the waterfront made Weehawken, for many years, the site of the largest banana import facility in the nation.
- Once the 1960's, a rail-workers strike required Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, to unload in Weehawken and march their caravans, cages, and elephants through the Lincoln Tunnel, much to the delight of children who were woken in the middle of the night to watch it.
