Cobblestoned street in sleepy Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn, New York, USA. Vinegar Hill is a neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City on the East River waterfront between DUMBO and the Brooklyn Navy Yard and gets its name from the Battle of Vinegar Hill, an engagement near Enniscorthy during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Originally settled by the Irish, this community has maintained its 19th century look while facing modernization and development from all sides.