Bergen Beach/Georgetowne

Originally, Bergen Beach was an island in Jamaica Bay called "Bergen Island" or "Bergen's Island". Most of the island was sea-level meadows. A bulkhead was built along the shore in the late 1890’s and was later connected to the uplands of nearby Mill Basin. This created a continuous embankment between Mill Basin and Paerdegat Basin, which was later used for the construction of Belt Parkway. 

The modern neighborhood of Bergen Beach is adjacent to Canarsie, Paerdegat Basin and Georgetowne to the northeast, Ralph Avenue to the west, Mill Basin/Mill Island to the southwest, and Jamaica Bay to the southeast. Georgetowne is considered a subsection of Bergen Beach. It is bounded by Ralph Avenue to the west, Avenue N to the south, Avenue U to the southeast, and Paerdegat Basin to the northeast. Both Bergen Beach and Georgetowne are zoned as predominantly residential neighborhoods with one and two-family homes. Small commercial overlays and recreational waterfront uses also exist.

The streets north of Avenue T, east of Ralph Avenue and west of Paerdegat Basin make up a subdivision of Bergen Beach known as Georgetowne, named for a planned development in the 1960s to be called Georgetowne Greens in the vicinity of Ralph Avenue and Avenue L. The project never got off the ground, but the name survived in the Georgetowne Shopping Center on Ralph Avenue, between Avenues K and L. The area was slowly developed from the 1960s through the 1980s with one and two-family homes and some low-rise condominium developments.