While Flatbush Avenue runs for almost 10 miles, across most of Brooklyn, the neighborhood of Flatbush corresponds roughly to the former town of the same name, one of the original six towns of Brooklyn. (Its name comes from the Dutch vlacke bos, or “flat woodland.”) The neighborhood sits to the southeast of Prospect Park and extends south to the Bay Ridge Branch of the LIRR (just beyond Avenue H). Only a few sites from Flatbush’s early days remain — the Dutch Reformed Church and Erasmus High School, originally established by the church, foremost among them. Instead, most of the buildings in Flatbush are from the early 20th century or later, a mix of freestanding houses and apartment blocks. Flatbush’s boundaries are somewhat confusing, as areas like Ditmas Park, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, and Prospect Park South are sometimes viewed as their own neighborhoods and other times as subsections of Flatbush.