Sometimes a broker will come up with a name for a neighborhood that will stick. In the 1950s -- when Cobble Hill was basically considered a part of Brooklyn Heights -- a local broker rediscovered the old Dutch name for the area between Atlantic Avenue and Degraw Street on the western end of Court Street (Cobleshill) and called it Cobble Hill.

Brooklynites have been referring the area that way ever since.

Few neighborhoods better represent "Brownstone Brooklyn" than this collection of Greek Revival and Romanesque row houses built in the 1840s. It's not entirely brownstones, mind you; Atlantic Avenue on Cobble Hill's border, is home to a number of Middle Eastern restaurants, as well as the famous Lebanese specialty store, Sahadi's. Long Island College Hospital is also in the neighborhood, and Court Street has a nice mix of bars and restaurants.

New constructions have even begun tip-toeing into Cobble Hill. Time Equities has proposed building six new townhouses at 110 Amity St. (to the howls of local residents).

Existing area townhouses can be had from around $1.5 million all the way up to over $3 million.