Bill's Brownstone
Wander through New York's Past and Present with
the author of The Mevrouw Who Saved Manhattan
About Bill
Twenty-five years ago, Bill Greer took a job on Wall Street, moved into a gaslight-era Brooklyn brownstone and began exploring New York. The city is a walker's paradise, and as his favorite form of travel is on foot, he racks up hundreds of miles on the streets each year - and several hundred more hiking on trails around the world.
Bill's careers have ranged from economist and management consultant to Internet entrepreneur, travel writer and novelist. He is the co-founder with his wife Diane of the early Internet era's leading community for outdoor adventure and travel, GORP.com. With its vast collection of outdoor and travel writing, GORP attracted two million people a month and earned a ranking as one of the Top 50 sites on the web in 2000.
Bill has published dozens of stories based on his own travels in venues like The New York Times, USA Today, Discovery.com and GORP. He has traveled extensively on five continents, covering topics from Rocky Mountains wilderness to ancient cities of Southeast Asia.
As an expert in adventure travel, Bill has appeared on dozens of radio and television programs, including NBC's The Today Show and CNN's Business Unusual and Before Hours. He has been interviewed for countless articles in newspapers, business magazines and travel rags. He has spoken at conferences for organizations such as the Adventure Travel Society, PhoCusWright, Inc., Etravel World, Jupiter Communications and the Chicago Adventure Travel Expo.
Bill's interest in New York history led him to write The Mevrouw Who Saved Manhattan. This story of New Amsterdam is told by a teen-age bride turned Pearl Street tavernkeeper, whose razor-sharp tongue and premium beer spur the tiny Manhattan settlement toward a head-on collision with the tyrannical Dutchmen who rule it. He is now working on a novel of New York in the gaslight era.
Bill serves as Treasurer of the New Netherland Institute, a membership organization focusing on research and education in Dutch-American history. The Institute supports the translation of Dutch documents held by New York State in conjunction with the state and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Its 2009 project to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson sailing into New York Harbor includes a video documentary, a traveling museum exhibit and an exhibition with the Museum of the City of New York on the role of the Dutch in American history.
Bill offers a variety of talks on New York's Dutch heritage. Topics range from readings from Mevrouw and how its story uses history to specific areas of history. Sample history topics include "Broken Chain: How the White and Indian Worlds Remembered the Arrival of Henry Hudson and the Dutch," and "Sex and the City: The Bawdy Life of Dutch Manhattan."
Bill welcomes notes on his book, anything in the brownstone, New York, adventure travel or whatever else is on your mind. Email him at Bill at BillsBrownstone.com.
Bill's Book
The Mevrouw Who
Saved Manhattan
A Novel of New Amsterdam
like etchings by
Van Ostade and Steen."
-- Charles Wendell, Ph.D.,
President of the
New Netherland Institute
on a madcap ride through
New York history.
More about the book.
Amazon
for the Kindle
and the Nook
and see what you think
laughing out loud."
right on the money."
better ... toward a
highly satisfying resolution."