This is the island where Typhoid Mary (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_Mary" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoid_Mary</a>), the first person in the US detected to carry typhoid without showing symptoms, was quarantined. There's a great Radiolab episode where they take a trip to the island; <a href="http://www.radiolab.org/2011/nov/14/" rel="nofollow">http://www.radiolab.org/2011/nov/14/</a>, <a href="http://www.radiolab.org/2011/nov/14/typhoid-mary/" rel="nofollow">http://www.radiolab.org/2011/nov/14/typhoid-mary/</a>
There are actually a couple of uninhabited islands in the East River: North Brother (the one in the article), South Brother, Mill Rock, and U Thant.<p>If you find this stuff interesting, you may want to check out Forgotten New York[1], a site run by movie location scout Kevin Walsh, who gets access to places few people get to see in the city. Another great blog is Abandoned NYC[2].<p>[1] <a href="http://forgotten-ny.com/" rel="nofollow">http://forgotten-ny.com/</a><p>[2] <a href="http://abandonednyc.com/" rel="nofollow">http://abandonednyc.com/</a>
Got one here in the Bay Area: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawbridge,_California" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawbridge,_California</a><p>Fun, though dangerous [active train track; passenger trains pass at 100kph], place to visit. Just walk out the trails from Alviso in the south bay. I've done it about 3 times. Old dead buildings falling into the marsh. Walkways lead from the tracks to the water's edge (for maintenance?).<p>Note: it's illegal to visit (dangerous + nature sanctuary), so go at night..
I love these islands.<p>Hashima island is one of these <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashima_Island" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashima_Island</a> in Japan. Or well the <a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Shikoku" rel="nofollow">http://wikitravel.org/en/Shikoku</a> is another place you can go and see the forgotten life.<p>Check this one too <a href="http://gakuran.com/gunkanjima-ruins-of-a-forbidden-island/" rel="nofollow">http://gakuran.com/gunkanjima-ruins-of-a-forbidden-island/</a>
Given real state prices in NYC, if find it hard to believe it's still "too expensive to build everything" now, <i>if</i> it was so in the 60's. Perhaps there is more to the story? Does anyone know why this place doesn't get developed?
NYC loves to do all sorts of interesting things with its islands. Another island that most New Yorkers know nothing about is Roosevelt Island:<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Island" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Island</a><p>It has had a very long history including having a prison/small pox hospital/mental hospital.
If abandoned buildings is your thing, then this Russian site is a fantastic way to waste a lot of time.<p><a href="http://lana-sator.livejournal.com/" rel="nofollow">http://lana-sator.livejournal.com/</a><p>Google translate will help with navigation.
I like that in the last photograph, the bullet holes are clearly from someone shooting from the inside out. Who was trying to get inside, and where are the bodies?
If you like stuff like this, you should check out this photographer's flickr. <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4019607" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4019607</a><p>He takes photos of abandoned buildings. If you're in SF he's got some good ones of 140 Montgomery, the art deco building that is now being refurbished into new digs for Yelp and other companies. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tunnelbug/sets/72157613803850225/" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/photos/tunnelbug/sets/7215761380385022...</a><p>He's also done Neverland Ranch, and the Jackling House Mansion (home to Steve Jobs and one point) <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tunnelbug/sets/72157594153520402/" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/photos/tunnelbug/sets/7215759415352040...</a>.
There is another island in the middle of NYC that has a mass grave where the government has buried over 850,000 people. It's not open to the public though, and apparently they go to great lengths to keep the public and the media away.
It's also the site of the worst NYC disaster prior to 9/11: <a href="http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/north-brother-island" rel="nofollow">http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/north-brother-island</a>
Biggest thing that struck me in this piece wasn't really related to the topic, but was: "<i>Art still remained from the heroin addicts who had lived in the rehab center</i>" - reading that made me realise what a big disconnect I have in my head between the sort of people who would create "art" on their walls with the sort of people I think of as heroin addicts.<p>On a conscious level I know that anyone can be a heroin addict, I could become one, my brother/boss/friend might already be one... but I've only just realised what a predisposition I still hold onto.
From the last picture, if the door was closed, the shots were fired from inside the building. Doubt the shots would have came from police at "nearby Riker's Island."
Another NYC gem is the abandoned Cobble Hill Tunnel on the border of Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights. It is also the oldest cut and cover construction in North America for the subterranean fans out there. <a href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobble_Hill_Tunnel" rel="nofollow">http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobble_Hill_Tunnel</a>
Another interesting island nearby is Hart Island. See <a href="http://googlesightseeing.com/2006/08/island-of-the-dead/" rel="nofollow">http://googlesightseeing.com/2006/08/island-of-the-dead/</a>, <a href="http://goo.gl/maps/VplQF" rel="nofollow">http://goo.gl/maps/VplQF</a>
H.P. Lovecraft used similar imagery and atmosphere:<p>"The vast huddle of sagging gambrel roofs and peaked gables conveyed with offensive clearness the idea of wormy decay [...] Stretching inland from among them I saw the rusted, grass-grown line of the abandoned railway, with leaning telegraph-poles now devoid of wires, and the half-obscured lines of the old carriage roads to Rowley and Ipswich."<p><a href="http://hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/soi.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/soi.aspx</a>
Lived here for 8 years and still learning something new. Got to love NYC! Also throwing it out there that Backspaces has really good, off-beat (in a good way), artistic content like this all the time.
Awesome photos, and I never would have imagined that anyplace in NYC could be so abandoned, but further reading shows that the island is occasionally patrolled by authorities.<p>More info & images:
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/north-brother-island-2012-2?op=1" rel="nofollow">http://www.businessinsider.com/north-brother-island-2012-2?o...</a>
If you are into that sort of thing - some photos I took of the abandoned Harlem Valley Psych Hospital<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mva/sets/72157618704382364/with/3559061664/" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/photos/mva/sets/72157618704382364/with...</a>
Perfect plot for a cinema verite' horror flick: scene: "hey, I heard about this cool abandoned island off NYC, I double dare you to kayak over there and spend then might". Mayhem ensues... Kickstarter movie anyone?
I know someone from jersey who was approached about investing in the island back then. I thought it sounded pretty cool. He said "except that's where all the escapees from Rikers wash up."<p>I couldn't tell if he was joking.
Why is half the available screen space of this website asking me to download their app? There's an app banner, another banner at the top, and a banner that floats with the text at the bottom.
The photo of a fire hydrant drowning under ivy is especially striking. For some reason it communicates "abandonment" to me more clearly than the ruined buildings.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Brother_Island,_East_River" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Brother_Island,_East_Riv...</a><p>It's now a bird sanctuary, and it looks like it's illegal to be there.