Things besides bodies and MRSA in the East River
^ It’s like Disney World for people who have no soul. So New Yorkers.
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Strangely enough, it’s both comforting and disheartening limiting that we’ve discovered the entirety of the non-ocean surface of our planet. Every so often, I’ll get discouraged that I’ll never stumble upon an unknown island in the Caribbean or some crazy glacial lake formation unbeknownst to man. Then I realize I can only see about 12 feet in front of me, have watched enough of the Hills have Eyes and Blair Witch Project to label my imagination as “crippling”, and read too much National Geographic to know I would die Hour 1 in the wilderness. But for all you fellow Magellans gelling out there, New York is littered with islands you have never heard of and, hopefully, will never encounter. There are literally dozens of islands lurking in the murky, disease filled waters around Manhattan but for time and space sake, we’ll cover the most curious.
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North Brother Island – North Brother Island is a entire island of abandoned buildings. In 1885, the Riverside Hospital relocated there from Roosevelt Island and it served as a smallpox hospital that also treated life-threatening, quarantinable diseases, including the most famous Patient Zero, Typhoid Mary. It also served as the site of the General Slocum disaster that killed over 1,000 New Yorkers in 1891, housed veteran college students after WWII, was a rehab center for teens in the 1950s, and now is a bird sanctuary. The only way to legally visit is with a hard-to-obtain permit from the Parks Department so best of luck with that.
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Rikers Island – So for those who didn’t know this, Rikers Island resides off the coast of the Upper Upper East Side and while barely 400 acres, it stands home to 12,300 inmates their officers. The only way you’ll make it over is here is if you find yourself arrested and at that point, your trip over is very well taken care of.
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Hart Island – Hart island is unoccupied…well by the living at least. The 101-acre potter’s field is actually the largest tax-funded cemetery in the world, boasting over a million souls buried on the island. The city has inmates from Rikers island conduct the burials so the only access to the island is through the Department of Corrections. If you have proof through paperwork that a deceased member of your family lies on the island, you are allowed access and can peer at the field from a distant gazebo. You should make zero intended plans to visit Hart Island.
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Shooter’s Island – Shooter’s Island holds a near and dear place in my heart because it was a crucial spot during the Revolutionary War. Originally a colonial hunting preserve, during the War, Washington used the island as a drop-off point for secret intelligence. Ah, to be alive during a time where the government couldn’t paint an eerily accurate picture of you based upon your last 90 days of Amazon purchases. It was home to a ship building company until the beginning of the 20th century, then it became a place solely for birds. Unless you are a bird or work for the Audubon Society, legally you aren’t allowed on the island.
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BRB gtg rethink all my hypotheses about Shutter Island.