Recognizable full-length portraits of Messrs. Sands, Graham, Birdsall, Hicks, Meeker, Patchen, and Judge Garrison were incorporated into the tableau by Francis Guy, artist of the original work from which this was copied. Tradition has it that while working near his window, he would call out to friends and passersby, asking them to stand still while he captured their characteristic postures. In the 1820s the population of Kings County, of which Brooklyn was a part, numbered more than 11,000, including approximately 1,700 black residents. At that date there were probably few, if any, slaves in Brooklyn, as Unitarianism, the dominant religion in the community, proscribed slavery. The many occupations depicted in the painting emphasize that this Brooklyn neighborhood is a thriving community.
Pedestrians share the streets with drays, sleighs, wheelbarrows, horses, dogs, and farm animals.
The man crossing the street on the left appears to be carrying freshly butchered meat, while the man to the right of the pack of dogs holds surveyor's tools, perhaps a reference to the laying out of streets and roads in the newly expanding community. 3 Francis Guy made several versions of this scene, some featuring the same location in summer and at least one without any people. This painting is a copy, probably of the Guy rendering at the Brooklyn Museum, by Louisa Ann Coleman, granddaughter of Augustus Graham, a founder of the Apprentices' Library, which was a forerunner of the Brooklyn Museum. In this painting Graham stands with his back toward his residence at left, in conversation with Joshua Sands. Coleman married Joseph Byron Hayes in 1861 and moved to Canandaigua, New York.