Governors Island
Encyclopedia
Governors Island is a 172 acres (69.6 ha) island in Upper New York Bay
, approximately one-half mile (1 km) from the southern tip of Manhattan Island and separated from Brooklyn
by Buttermilk Channel
. It is legally part of the borough
of Manhattan
in New York City
. The island was expanded by approximately 82 acres (33.2 ha) of landfill on its southern side when the Lexington Avenue subway
was excavated in the early 1900s.
First named by the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block
, it was called Noten Eylant (and later in pidgin
language Nutten Island) from 1611 to 1784. The island's current name—made official eight years after the 1776 Declaration of Independence—stems from British colonial times when the colonial assembly reserved the island for the exclusive use of New York's royal governors.
Defensive works were raised on the island in 1776 by Continental Army
troops during the American Revolutionary War
, and fired upon British ships before falling into enemy hands. From 1783 to 1966, the island was a United States Army
post. From 1966 to 1996 the island served as a major United States Coast Guard
installation.
On January 19, 2001, Fort Jay and Castle Williams, two of the island's three historical fortifications were proclaimed a National Monument. On January 31, 2003, 150 acres of the island was transferred to the State of New York
for a nominal fee of $1. The remaining (22 acres or 9 ha) was transferred to the United States Department of the Interior
as the Governors Island National Monument
, administered by the National Park Service
.
The 150 acre portion of the island not included in the National Monument is administered by The Trust for Governors Island, an entity of the City of New York and the successor of the joint city/state established redevelopment entity, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation. The transfer included deed restrictions which prohibit permanent housing or casinos on the island.
The national historic landmark district, approximately 92 acres (37.2 ha) of the northern half of the island, is open to the public for several months in the summer and early fall. Additionally the circumferential drive around the island is also open to the public. The island is accessed by free ferries from Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Jan Rodrigues
from Santo Domingo on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, a Latin-American of African ancestry and a free man, was the first person to summer on Governors Island, in 1613. He was employed as interpreter in trade negotiations with the Hudson River Indians by the private Amsterdam fur trader and explorer Adriaen Block
. Rodrigues was left behind on the island in May 1613 to serve as on-the-spot factor to trade with the natives. Rodrigues and Block rendezvoused again in December that year.
In May 1624, Noten Eylandt ("Island of Nuts"; officially renamed Governors Island in 1784) was the landing place of the first settlers in New Netherland. They had arrived from the Dutch Republic with the ship New Netherland under the command of Cornelis Jacobsz May, who disembarked on the island with thirty families in order to take legal possession of the New Netherland
territory.
In 1633, the fifth director of New Netherland
, Wouter van Twiller, arrived with a 104-men regiment on Governors Island — its first use as a military base. Later he operated a farm on the island. He secured his farm by creating a deed on June 16, 1637, which was signed by two Lenape
, Cacapeteyno and Pewihas, on behalf of their community at Keshaechquereren, situated in what today is New Jersey.
After New Netherland was conditionally ceded to the English in 1664, New Amsterdam was renamed New York by the English in June 1665 but for its population it remained New Amsterdam.
Noten (in pidgin
language, "Nutten") Island was renamed Governors Island in 1784 as the island, in earlier times, had been reserved by the British colonial assembly for the exclusive use of New York's royal governors.
The New York State Senate
and Assembly
have recognized Governors Island as the birthplace, in 1624, of the state of New York. They have also acknowledged the island as the place on which the planting of the “legal-political guaranty of tolerance onto the North American continent” took place (Resolutions No. 5476 and No. 2708).
After the beginning of the American Revolutionary War
, in one night, April 9, 1776, Continental Army
General Israel Putnam
fortified the island with earthworks
and 40 cannon in anticipation of the Battle of Long Island
(also known as the Battle of Brooklyn), to be the largest battle of the entire war. The harbor defenses on the island continued to be improved over the summer, and on July 12, 1776, engaged HMS Phoenix and HMS Rose
. The Americans' cannon inflicted enough damage to make the British commanders cautious of entering the East River
, which later contributed to the success of General George Washington
's retreat across it from Brooklyn into Manhattan. The Continental Army forces eventually withdrew from the island as well, and the British occupied it in late August. From September 2 to 14, the new British garrison would engage volleys with Washington's guns on the battery in front of Fort George
in Manhattan. The fort (along with the rest of New York City) was held by the British for the rest of the war until Evacuation Day
at the end of the war in 1783.
After the war, the island as former holdings of the Crown came into ownership by the state of New York and saw no military usage. Prompted by the unsettled international situation between the warring powers of France and Great Britain and the need for more substantial harbor fortifications, the Revolutionary War-era earthworks were rehabilitated into harbor defenses by the city and state of New York. By the late 1790s, the Quasi-War
with France prompted a national program of harbor fortifications and in February 1800, the island was conveyed to the federal government which undertook the reconstruction of Fort Jay and new construction of Castle Williams and South or Half Moon Battery.
Fort Jay
, started as a square four bastioned fort of earthworks and timber started in 1794 by the state of New York on the site of the earlier earthworks. The sandstone gate house topped with a sculpture of an eagle dates to that time and is the oldest structure on the island. From 1806 to 1809, Fort Jay, by then renamed Fort Columbus was reconstructed in more substantial brick and granite with the addition of a ravelin (giving the fort its current five pointed star appearance) to better protect the fort's north face facing Manhattan and to better direct cannon fire on to the East and Hudson Rivers.
The second fortification started in 1807 and completed in November 1811, was Castle Williams. Located on a rocky shoal at the northwest corner of the island, it was a circular fortification featuring a pioneering new design that could project a 220 degree circular arc of cannon fire from a three levels of casemates (bomb-proof rooms holding two cannons each) from 103 cannons on its three levels and roof.
Fort Jay and Castle Williams are among the best remaining examples of First System (Fort Jay
) and Second System (Castle Williams
) American coastal fortification.
During the American Civil War
, Castle Williams held Confederate prisoners of war and Fort Jay held captured Confederate officers. After the war, Castle Williams was used as a military stockade
and became the east coast counterpart to military prisons at Fort Leavenworth
, Kansas and Alcatraz Island
, California.
In 1878, the military installation on the island, then known collectively as Fort Columbus, became a major Army administrative center. In 1885, the first incinerator in the U.S. was built on Governors Island.
, who would become Army Chief of Staff in 1917. In 1939, the island became the headquarters of the U.S. First Army
.
Prior to the construction of Floyd Bennett Field
in Brooklyn, the island was considered as a site for a municipal airport. It did hold a small grass strip, Governors Island Army Airfield, from the 1950s until the 1960s.
The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
passes underwater and off-shore of the island's northeast corner, its location marked by a ventilation building connected to the island by a causeway
. At one point prior to World War II, Robert Moses
proposed a bridge across the harbor, with a base located on Governors Island; the intervention of the War Department
under Franklin D. Roosevelt
quashed the plan as a possible navigational threat to the Brooklyn Navy Yard
.
Tom
(1937) and Dick Smothers
(1939), also known as the Smothers Brothers
, were born on the island, as was comic book (Batman, Green Lantern) legend Neal Adams
(1941).
In November 1964, after a year long study of by the Department of Defense to cut costs and reduce the number of military installations, Fort Jay and Brooklyn Navy Yard were identified to be closed by 1966.
base. The Coast Guard saw the island as an opportunity to consolidate and provide more facilities for its schools, and as a base for its regional and Atlantic Ocean operations.
As with the Army, the island was a headquarters for the Atlantic Area, the regional Third District, the local office of the Captain of the Port
of New York, AMVER
(Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System), TRACEN (Training Center), and the homeport for several U.S. Coast Guard Cutters including USCGC Dallas (WHEC-716)
, USCGC Gallatin (WHEC-721)
, USCGC Morgenthau (WHEC-722)
, and USCGC Sorrel (WLB-296)
.
On February 4, 1985, 92 acres (372,311.1 m²) of Governors Island were designated a National Historic Landmark
district, recognizing its wide range and representation of Army fortification, administrative and residential architecture dating from the early days of the nation.
The island was the site of a December 8, 1988 meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan
, President-elect George Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
.
In July 1993, the Governors Island Accord was signed between Haiti
an political leaders.
Like the Army, the Coast Guard was compelled to cut costs and identified the base for closure in 1995. The closure was an agency initiative and not part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process that Defense Department installations were undergoing in the 1990s.
With the departure of the Coast Guard almost two centuries of the island’s use as a federal military reservation concluded.
who envisioned the island with great potential as a public and civic resource.
With the announcement of the Coast Guard base closure and departure, city and state officials along with private developers and civic planners began to offer opinions and ideas on the island's future that included housing, parks, education and private development.
In 1996, Van Alen
Institute hosted an ideas competition called "Public Property" which asked designers “to consider the urban potential of Governors Island in terms of spatial adjacencies and experiential overlaps between a range of actions, actors, events, and ecologies... to acknowledge the physical reality of cities and their historic programmatic complexity as fundamental to the survival of a vital public realm.” The competition was open to anyone who registered. More than 200 entries from students, faculty, and landscape architects in 14 different countries were received. The jury members included: Andrea Kahn, Christine Boyer, Miriam Gusevich, Judith Henitz, Carlos Jimenez, and Enric Miralles.
On February 15, 2006, Governor George Pataki
and Mayor Michael Bloomberg
called for "visionary ideas to redevelop and preserve Governors Island" to be submitted to Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC). The announcement said proposals should "enhance New York's place as a center of culture, business, education and innovation," include public parkland, contribute to the harbor's
vitality and stress "environmentally sustainable development." Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff said whatever group or entity is selected to develop the island would assume the $12 million annual maintenance costs that are now split between the city and state. In early 2007, GIPEC paused in the search for developers, focusing on the development of a major park on the island as called for in the deed that conveyed the island from the federal government to the city and state of New York.
With transportation to and from the island, one idea considered was an aerial gondola system designed by Santiago Calatrava
.
A proposal to adaptively reuse Castle Williams for a New Globe Theater, designed by architect Norman Foster
.
The non-profit organization worked in partnership with Shakespeare's Globe Theater in London to develop a proposal and seek backing for a cultural center and performance space in the Castle. With the completion of a National Park Service general management plan for Castle Williams and Fort Jay in 2009, it was determined that the proposed use of the Castle for the theater was not congruous with its historical significance.
In the fall of 2006, GIPEC announced that The Urban Assembly New York Harbor School
, a small public high school in Bushwick, Brooklyn, would relocate to Governors Island. The school is the island's first tenant and opens in 2010. Also opening in 2010 will be artist studios, run by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. These studios will open in historic Building 110.
In 2007, GIPEC announced five finalist design teams that were chosen to submit their ideas for the future park and Great Promenade. In December 2007, Governor Eliot Spitzer and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the acclaimed team, led by West 8
with Diller Scofidio + Renfro
and Rogers Marvel Architects, would design these new signature open spaces.
In 2009, a 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) commercial organic farm, operated by the non-profit organization Added Value, was launched.
In 2010, New York University
, a private institution, announced a plan to expand its campuses, including building a campus on the Governors Island "complete with dorms and faculty housing."
In April 2010, the city entered an agreement to take full control of the island's development from the State, and unveiled a new master development plan. Under the plan, the historic northern end will remain structurally unchanged, the middle of the island will be developed into a park stretching all the way to the southern tip, areas on the east and west sides of the island will be privately developed to generate revenue, and the entire island will be edged by a circumferential promenade. The 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) park, designed by Adriaan Geuze of the Dutch landscape architecture firm West 8
will feature playing fields, woodland, and hills built of the rubble of the disused 20th-century buildings sculpted to frame views of the Statue of Liberty
and other New York landmarks. The southern end of the park will meet the water in a series of wetlands.
In November 2011, the Center for Urban Real Estate at Columbia University
proposed the idea of using fill to physically connect Manhattan to Governors Island. This proposal would require 23 million cubic yards of landfill and allow for up to 88 million square feet of new development while providing new subway stations and a bridge to Red Hook, Brooklyn.
The Governors Island Alliance is working with its many partners to make these commitments a reality, and engage the public in their planning. The Alliance publishes a monthly electronic newsletter that provides the latest information on Island happenings. Equally important, the Alliance is working to enliven the Island with a variety of recreation and arts programs so that visitors can enjoy this harbor destination.
Immediately following the Coast Guard’s departure from the Island in 1998, the Alliance’s Foundation collaborated with First Lady Hillary Clinton, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger and American Ambassador to the Netherlands Cynthia Schneider in advancing the proposed Education and Preservation Project. The goal was to preserve the $1 State and City purchase option and to avoid the Island’s public auction past the Congressional legal deadline of September 2001. Based on the legal precedent of the 1785 Land Act, the Foundation succeeded in getting the White House to dedicate the Island to “education” on April 1, 2002. It was the basis for the American people’s surrender of the island’s “economic value” to the State and the City. Sixty-plus acres were set aside as “park” land prior to conveying the Island to the State for one dollar on February 1, 2003.
Paid summer weekend ferry service is operated by NY Waterway
between Governors Island and East River Ferry stops in DUMBO, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint. The fare is $4. A summer Friday-only loop serves Governors Island, Manhattan, Atlantic Avenue, and Brooklyn Bridge Park.
from the Battery Maritime Building in the Financial District
, Friday through Sunday. The 1908 cast-iron structure, located next to the Staten Island Ferry
terminal, was restored between 2001-2006. Service on Friday is hourly, while Saturday and Sunday it is half-hourly. The departure and arrival dock on Governors Island is the Soissons Dock at the north tip of the island. The ride duration is less than five minutes.
To allow for late-night events at its Water Taxi Beach
, New York Water Taxi provides service back to Manhattan after such events. The fare is included for paid events and provided for a $5 roundtrip charge for free events.
walking tours, bike riding, picnicking, art installations, fairs, festivals, and concerts. Bicycle, tandem, and quadcycle rental is provided on the island by Bike and Roll at hourly and daily rates. New York Water Taxi operates an artificial beach on the northern tip of the island.
The "World Trade Center Run to Remember" (WTCRTR) has been run annually on the island since 2009 on the first Sunday of September. The activities include a 5K Run, 3K Family Fun Run/Walk, Children's Fun Run, and other activities to benefit organizations associated with 9/11 related services.
The island is roughly divided in half by a street called Division Road. The northeastern half is currently open to the public. The southwestern half, which contains the abandoned U.S. Coast Guard housing and service areas is still in redevelopment and its interior sections remain closed to the public. However the island's circumferential drive along the waterfront is open to the public. Demolition of the U.S. Coast Guard housing began in 2008 and one small section has been opened to the public as a picnic area. It is on the grounds of the former Liberty Village housing area that was used by Coast Guard families between 1988 and 1996.
Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay, or Upper Bay, is the traditional heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and often called New York Harbor. It is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne.It...
, approximately one-half mile (1 km) from the southern tip of Manhattan Island and separated from Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
by Buttermilk Channel
Buttermilk Channel
In New York City, Buttermilk Channel is a small tidal strait in Upper New York Bay, approximately one mile long and one-fourth of a mile wide , separating Governors Island from Brooklyn....
. It is legally part of the borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The island was expanded by approximately 82 acres (33.2 ha) of landfill on its southern side when the Lexington Avenue subway
IRT Lexington Avenue Line
The Lexington Avenue Line is one of the lines of the IRT division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Downtown Brooklyn or Lower Manhattan north to 125th Street in East Harlem. The portion in Lower and Midtown Manhattan was part of the first subway line in New York...
was excavated in the early 1900s.
First named by the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block
Adriaen Block
Adriaen Block was a Dutch private trader and navigator who is best known for exploring the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts during four voyages from 1611 to 1614, following the 1609 expedition by Henry Hudson...
, it was called Noten Eylant (and later in pidgin
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...
language Nutten Island) from 1611 to 1784. The island's current name—made official eight years after the 1776 Declaration of Independence—stems from British colonial times when the colonial assembly reserved the island for the exclusive use of New York's royal governors.
Defensive works were raised on the island in 1776 by Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
troops during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, and fired upon British ships before falling into enemy hands. From 1783 to 1966, the island was a United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
post. From 1966 to 1996 the island served as a major United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
installation.
On January 19, 2001, Fort Jay and Castle Williams, two of the island's three historical fortifications were proclaimed a National Monument. On January 31, 2003, 150 acres of the island was transferred to the State of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
for a nominal fee of $1. The remaining (22 acres or 9 ha) was transferred to the United States Department of the Interior
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...
as the Governors Island National Monument
Governors Island National Monument
Governors Island National Monument is located in New York, New York on of Governors Island, a island located few hundred meters off the southern tip of Manhattan at the confluence of the Hudson and East Rivers in New York Harbor....
, administered by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
.
The 150 acre portion of the island not included in the National Monument is administered by The Trust for Governors Island, an entity of the City of New York and the successor of the joint city/state established redevelopment entity, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation. The transfer included deed restrictions which prohibit permanent housing or casinos on the island.
The national historic landmark district, approximately 92 acres (37.2 ha) of the northern half of the island, is open to the public for several months in the summer and early fall. Additionally the circumferential drive around the island is also open to the public. The island is accessed by free ferries from Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Colonial period
Jan Rodrigues
Juan "Jan" Rodriguez , born in Santo Domingo, was the son of a Portuguese sailor and of an African woman and was the first man, of African and European descent, to live in what would become New York City spending the winter, without the support of anchored ship, at a Dutch fur trading post on Lower...
from Santo Domingo on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, a Latin-American of African ancestry and a free man, was the first person to summer on Governors Island, in 1613. He was employed as interpreter in trade negotiations with the Hudson River Indians by the private Amsterdam fur trader and explorer Adriaen Block
Adriaen Block
Adriaen Block was a Dutch private trader and navigator who is best known for exploring the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts during four voyages from 1611 to 1614, following the 1609 expedition by Henry Hudson...
. Rodrigues was left behind on the island in May 1613 to serve as on-the-spot factor to trade with the natives. Rodrigues and Block rendezvoused again in December that year.
In May 1624, Noten Eylandt ("Island of Nuts"; officially renamed Governors Island in 1784) was the landing place of the first settlers in New Netherland. They had arrived from the Dutch Republic with the ship New Netherland under the command of Cornelis Jacobsz May, who disembarked on the island with thirty families in order to take legal possession of the New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
territory.
In 1633, the fifth director of New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
, Wouter van Twiller, arrived with a 104-men regiment on Governors Island — its first use as a military base. Later he operated a farm on the island. He secured his farm by creating a deed on June 16, 1637, which was signed by two Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
, Cacapeteyno and Pewihas, on behalf of their community at Keshaechquereren, situated in what today is New Jersey.
After New Netherland was conditionally ceded to the English in 1664, New Amsterdam was renamed New York by the English in June 1665 but for its population it remained New Amsterdam.
Noten (in pidgin
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...
language, "Nutten") Island was renamed Governors Island in 1784 as the island, in earlier times, had been reserved by the British colonial assembly for the exclusive use of New York's royal governors.
The New York State Senate
New York State Senate
The New York State Senate is one of two houses in the New York State Legislature and has members each elected to two-year terms. There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve...
and Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
have recognized Governors Island as the birthplace, in 1624, of the state of New York. They have also acknowledged the island as the place on which the planting of the “legal-political guaranty of tolerance onto the North American continent” took place (Resolutions No. 5476 and No. 2708).
18th and 19th centuries
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, in one night, April 9, 1776, Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
General Israel Putnam
Israel Putnam
Israel Putnam was an American army general and Freemason who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War...
fortified the island with earthworks
Earthworks (engineering)
Earthworks are engineering works created through the moving or processing of quantities of soil or unformed rock.- Civil engineering use :Typical earthworks include roads, railway beds, causeways, dams, levees, canals, and berms...
and 40 cannon in anticipation of the Battle of Long Island
Battle of Long Island
The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn or the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, fought on August 27, 1776, was the first major battle in the American Revolutionary War following the United States Declaration of Independence, the largest battle of the entire conflict, and the...
(also known as the Battle of Brooklyn), to be the largest battle of the entire war. The harbor defenses on the island continued to be improved over the summer, and on July 12, 1776, engaged HMS Phoenix and HMS Rose
HMS Rose (1757)
HMS Rose was a 20-gun sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy, built in Hull, England in 1757. Her activities in suppressing smuggling in the colony of Rhode Island provoked the formation of what became the Continental Navy, precursor of the modern United States Navy. In the Seven Years' War, Rose...
. The Americans' cannon inflicted enough damage to make the British commanders cautious of entering the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
, which later contributed to the success of General George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
's retreat across it from Brooklyn into Manhattan. The Continental Army forces eventually withdrew from the island as well, and the British occupied it in late August. From September 2 to 14, the new British garrison would engage volleys with Washington's guns on the battery in front of Fort George
Fort Amsterdam
For the historic fort on the island of Saint Martin, see Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan that was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then British rule of New York from...
in Manhattan. The fort (along with the rest of New York City) was held by the British for the rest of the war until Evacuation Day
Evacuation Day (New York)
Following the American Revolution, Evacuation Day on November 25 marks the day in 1783 when the last vestige of British authority in the United States — its troops in New York — departed from Manhattan...
at the end of the war in 1783.
After the war, the island as former holdings of the Crown came into ownership by the state of New York and saw no military usage. Prompted by the unsettled international situation between the warring powers of France and Great Britain and the need for more substantial harbor fortifications, the Revolutionary War-era earthworks were rehabilitated into harbor defenses by the city and state of New York. By the late 1790s, the Quasi-War
Quasi-War
The Quasi-War was an undeclared war fought mostly at sea between the United States and French Republic from 1798 to 1800. In the United States, the conflict was sometimes also referred to as the Franco-American War, the Pirate Wars, or the Half-War.-Background:The Kingdom of France had been a...
with France prompted a national program of harbor fortifications and in February 1800, the island was conveyed to the federal government which undertook the reconstruction of Fort Jay and new construction of Castle Williams and South or Half Moon Battery.
Fort Jay
Fort Jay
Fort Jay is a harbor fortification and the name of the former Army post located on Governors Island in New York Harbor. Fort Jay is the oldest defensive structure on the island, built to defend Upper New York Bay, but has served other purposes...
, started as a square four bastioned fort of earthworks and timber started in 1794 by the state of New York on the site of the earlier earthworks. The sandstone gate house topped with a sculpture of an eagle dates to that time and is the oldest structure on the island. From 1806 to 1809, Fort Jay, by then renamed Fort Columbus was reconstructed in more substantial brick and granite with the addition of a ravelin (giving the fort its current five pointed star appearance) to better protect the fort's north face facing Manhattan and to better direct cannon fire on to the East and Hudson Rivers.
The second fortification started in 1807 and completed in November 1811, was Castle Williams. Located on a rocky shoal at the northwest corner of the island, it was a circular fortification featuring a pioneering new design that could project a 220 degree circular arc of cannon fire from a three levels of casemates (bomb-proof rooms holding two cannons each) from 103 cannons on its three levels and roof.
Fort Jay and Castle Williams are among the best remaining examples of First System (Fort Jay
Fort Jay
Fort Jay is a harbor fortification and the name of the former Army post located on Governors Island in New York Harbor. Fort Jay is the oldest defensive structure on the island, built to defend Upper New York Bay, but has served other purposes...
) and Second System (Castle Williams
Castle Williams
Notes...
) American coastal fortification.
During the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Castle Williams held Confederate prisoners of war and Fort Jay held captured Confederate officers. After the war, Castle Williams was used as a military stockade
Stockade
A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls made of logs placed side by side vertically with the tops sharpened to provide security.-Stockade as a security fence:...
and became the east coast counterpart to military prisons at Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...
, Kansas and Alcatraz Island
Alcatraz Island
Alcatraz Island is an island located in the San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. Often referred to as "The Rock" or simply "Traz", the small island was developed with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison, and a Federal...
, California.
In 1878, the military installation on the island, then known collectively as Fort Columbus, became a major Army administrative center. In 1885, the first incinerator in the U.S. was built on Governors Island.
20th century
By 1912, when it was known as Governors Island, the Island's administrative leaders included General Tasker H. BlissTasker H. Bliss
Tasker Howard Bliss GCMG was Chief of Staff of the United States Army from September 22, 1917 until May 18, 1918.-Biography:...
, who would become Army Chief of Staff in 1917. In 1939, the island became the headquarters of the U.S. First Army
U.S. First Army
The First United States Army is a field army of the United States Army. It now serves a mobilization, readiness and training command.- Establishment and World War I :...
.
Prior to the construction of Floyd Bennett Field
Floyd Bennett Field
Floyd Bennett Field is New York City's first municipal airport. While no longer used as an operational commercial, military or general aviation airfield, the New York Police Department still flies its helicopters from its heliport base there...
in Brooklyn, the island was considered as a site for a municipal airport. It did hold a small grass strip, Governors Island Army Airfield, from the 1950s until the 1960s.
The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
Interstate 478s entire length consists of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel and its approaches. Its south end is at Interstate 278, and its north end is at NY 9A ....
passes underwater and off-shore of the island's northeast corner, its location marked by a ventilation building connected to the island by a causeway
Causeway
In modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated, usually across a broad body of water or wetland.- Etymology :When first used, the word appeared in a form such as “causey way” making clear its derivation from the earlier form “causey”. This word seems to have come from the same source by...
. At one point prior to World War II, Robert Moses
Robert Moses
Robert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...
proposed a bridge across the harbor, with a base located on Governors Island; the intervention of the War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
under Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
quashed the plan as a possible navigational threat to the Brooklyn Navy Yard
Brooklyn Navy Yard
The United States Navy Yard, New York–better known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard or the New York Naval Shipyard –was an American shipyard located in Brooklyn, northeast of the Battery on the East River in Wallabout Basin, a semicircular bend of the river across from Corlear's Hook in Manhattan...
.
Tom
Tom Smothers
Tom Smothers is an American comedian, composer and musician, best known as half of the musical comedy team The Smothers Brothers, alongside his younger brother Dick.-Early life:...
(1937) and Dick Smothers
Dick Smothers
Richard Remick "Dick" Smothers is an American actor, comedian, composer and musician. He is best known for being half of the musical comedy team, the Smothers Brothers, with his older brother Tom.-Life and career:...
(1939), also known as the Smothers Brothers
Smothers Brothers
The Smothers Brothers are Thomas and Richard , American singers, musicians, comedians and folk heroes. The brothers' trademark act was performing folk songs , which usually led to arguments between the siblings...
, were born on the island, as was comic book (Batman, Green Lantern) legend Neal Adams
Neal Adams
Neal Adams is an American comic book and commercial artist known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow; as the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates; and as a creators-rights advocate who...
(1941).
In November 1964, after a year long study of by the Department of Defense to cut costs and reduce the number of military installations, Fort Jay and Brooklyn Navy Yard were identified to be closed by 1966.
The Coast Guard era
When the Army left Governors Island in 1966, the installation became a United States Coast GuardUnited States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
base. The Coast Guard saw the island as an opportunity to consolidate and provide more facilities for its schools, and as a base for its regional and Atlantic Ocean operations.
As with the Army, the island was a headquarters for the Atlantic Area, the regional Third District, the local office of the Captain of the Port
Captain of the Port
The Captain of the Port is an official who has different functions in the United Kingdom and the United States.-United Kingdom:In the Royal Navy, the Captain of the Port is the officer, usually with the rank of Captain, responsible for the day-to-day running of a Naval Dockyard under the authority...
of New York, AMVER
AMVER
AMVER, sponsored by the United States Coast Guard, is a unique, computer-based, free, and voluntary global ship reporting system used worldwide by search and rescue authorities to arrange for assistance to persons in distress at sea...
(Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System), TRACEN (Training Center), and the homeport for several U.S. Coast Guard Cutters including USCGC Dallas (WHEC-716)
USCGC Dallas (WHEC-716)
The USCGC Dallas , is a Coast Guard high endurance cutter commissioned in 1967 at the Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans. She is the sixth ship or boat to bear the name of Alexander J. Dallas, the Secretary of the Treasury under President James Madison...
, USCGC Gallatin (WHEC-721)
USCGC Gallatin (WHEC-721)
USCGC Gallatin is a U.S. Coast Guard Hamilton-class high endurance cutter based out of Charleston, South Carolina. Built at Avondale Shipyards near New Orleans, Louisiana, Gallatin was named for Albert Gallatin, the fourth and longest serving United States Secretary of the Treasury.-External...
, USCGC Morgenthau (WHEC-722)
USCGC Morgenthau (WHEC-722)
USCGC Morgenthau , commissioned on March 10, 1969, was the eighth of twelve 378-foot Hamilton-class high endurance cutters built by Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans, Louisiana...
, and USCGC Sorrel (WLB-296)
USCGC Sorrel (WLB-296)
The USCGC Sorrel , a Cactus Class buoy tender of the United States Coast Guard, was built by Zenith Dredge of Duluth, Minnesota...
.
On February 4, 1985, 92 acres (372,311.1 m²) of Governors Island were designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
district, recognizing its wide range and representation of Army fortification, administrative and residential architecture dating from the early days of the nation.
The island was the site of a December 8, 1988 meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, President-elect George Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
.
In July 1993, the Governors Island Accord was signed between Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
an political leaders.
Like the Army, the Coast Guard was compelled to cut costs and identified the base for closure in 1995. The closure was an agency initiative and not part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process that Defense Department installations were undergoing in the 1990s.
With the departure of the Coast Guard almost two centuries of the island’s use as a federal military reservation concluded.
Redevelopment and new uses
The disposal of the island as excess federal property was outlined in the Budget Reduction Act of 1996. The legislation set a deadline and directed that the island be sold at a fair market value, but gave the city and state of New York the right of first refusal, a provision that was inserted into the legislation by New York senator Daniel Patrick MoynihanDaniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick "Pat" Moynihan was an American politician and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the United States Senate for New York in 1976, and was re-elected three times . He declined to run for re-election in 2000...
who envisioned the island with great potential as a public and civic resource.
With the announcement of the Coast Guard base closure and departure, city and state officials along with private developers and civic planners began to offer opinions and ideas on the island's future that included housing, parks, education and private development.
In 1996, Van Alen
William Van Alen
William Van Alen was an American architect, best known as the architect in charge of designing New York City's Chrysler Building .-Life:...
Institute hosted an ideas competition called "Public Property" which asked designers “to consider the urban potential of Governors Island in terms of spatial adjacencies and experiential overlaps between a range of actions, actors, events, and ecologies... to acknowledge the physical reality of cities and their historic programmatic complexity as fundamental to the survival of a vital public realm.” The competition was open to anyone who registered. More than 200 entries from students, faculty, and landscape architects in 14 different countries were received. The jury members included: Andrea Kahn, Christine Boyer, Miriam Gusevich, Judith Henitz, Carlos Jimenez, and Enric Miralles.
On February 15, 2006, Governor George Pataki
George Pataki
George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...
and Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
called for "visionary ideas to redevelop and preserve Governors Island" to be submitted to Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC). The announcement said proposals should "enhance New York's place as a center of culture, business, education and innovation," include public parkland, contribute to the harbor's
New York Harbor
New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...
vitality and stress "environmentally sustainable development." Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff said whatever group or entity is selected to develop the island would assume the $12 million annual maintenance costs that are now split between the city and state. In early 2007, GIPEC paused in the search for developers, focusing on the development of a major park on the island as called for in the deed that conveyed the island from the federal government to the city and state of New York.
With transportation to and from the island, one idea considered was an aerial gondola system designed by Santiago Calatrava
Santiago Calatrava
Santiago Calatrava Valls is a Spanish architect, sculptor and structural engineer whose principal office is in Zürich, Switzerland. Classed now among the elite designers of the world, he has offices in Zürich, Paris, Valencia, and New York City....
.
A proposal to adaptively reuse Castle Williams for a New Globe Theater, designed by architect Norman Foster
Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank
Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM is a British architect whose company maintains an international design practice, Foster + Partners....
.
The non-profit organization worked in partnership with Shakespeare's Globe Theater in London to develop a proposal and seek backing for a cultural center and performance space in the Castle. With the completion of a National Park Service general management plan for Castle Williams and Fort Jay in 2009, it was determined that the proposed use of the Castle for the theater was not congruous with its historical significance.
In the fall of 2006, GIPEC announced that The Urban Assembly New York Harbor School
New York Harbor School
The Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, also called The Harbor School, is a public high school located on Governors Island. This school is unique in New York City, which has 600 miles of waterfront, in that it attempts to relate every aspect of its curriculum to the water. The school is part of...
, a small public high school in Bushwick, Brooklyn, would relocate to Governors Island. The school is the island's first tenant and opens in 2010. Also opening in 2010 will be artist studios, run by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. These studios will open in historic Building 110.
In 2007, GIPEC announced five finalist design teams that were chosen to submit their ideas for the future park and Great Promenade. In December 2007, Governor Eliot Spitzer and Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the acclaimed team, led by West 8
West 8
West 8 is an urban planning and landscape architecture firm founded by Adrian Geuze in the Netherlands. It is known for its contemporary designs and innovative solutions to urban planning problems using lighting, metal structures, and color....
with Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Diller Scofidio + Renfro is a New York City-based interdisciplinary design studio that integrates architecture, the visual arts, and the performing arts. Originally founded by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio in 1979, the firm is particularly well known for its interdisciplinary approach to...
and Rogers Marvel Architects, would design these new signature open spaces.
In 2009, a 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) commercial organic farm, operated by the non-profit organization Added Value, was launched.
In 2010, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, a private institution, announced a plan to expand its campuses, including building a campus on the Governors Island "complete with dorms and faculty housing."
In April 2010, the city entered an agreement to take full control of the island's development from the State, and unveiled a new master development plan. Under the plan, the historic northern end will remain structurally unchanged, the middle of the island will be developed into a park stretching all the way to the southern tip, areas on the east and west sides of the island will be privately developed to generate revenue, and the entire island will be edged by a circumferential promenade. The 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) park, designed by Adriaan Geuze of the Dutch landscape architecture firm West 8
West 8
West 8 is an urban planning and landscape architecture firm founded by Adrian Geuze in the Netherlands. It is known for its contemporary designs and innovative solutions to urban planning problems using lighting, metal structures, and color....
will feature playing fields, woodland, and hills built of the rubble of the disused 20th-century buildings sculpted to frame views of the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
and other New York landmarks. The southern end of the park will meet the water in a series of wetlands.
In November 2011, the Center for Urban Real Estate at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
proposed the idea of using fill to physically connect Manhattan to Governors Island. This proposal would require 23 million cubic yards of landfill and allow for up to 88 million square feet of new development while providing new subway stations and a bridge to Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Governors Island Alliance
Since the decision by the United States Coast Guard to vacate the 172 acre (0.69605992 km²) Island in 1995, the Governors Island Alliance has worked collaboratively and successfully to help secure its return to New York and to ensure that the public interest determine its reuse. The Alliance and its 50 member organizations led a campaign to see Governors Island returned to New York for public purposes, a mandate embodied in GIPEC's 2003 charter to create "an educational, recreational, and cultural center that will offer a broad range of public uses", create about 90 acres (364,217.4 m²) of parks and public spaces, and abide by design restrictions in the National Landmark Historic District.The Governors Island Alliance is working with its many partners to make these commitments a reality, and engage the public in their planning. The Alliance publishes a monthly electronic newsletter that provides the latest information on Island happenings. Equally important, the Alliance is working to enliven the Island with a variety of recreation and arts programs so that visitors can enjoy this harbor destination.
Tolerance Park Alliance
The Alliance is a coalition of organizations and individuals working to celebrate the Island's unique history as the place on which the New World’s first lawful expression of religious tolerance as an individual right took place in 1624. It aims to create an unforgettable living museum-park-to-tolerance as a destination for all Americans on 30% of the Island, and ensure a fitting and sustainable reuse of New York State’s birthplace as “The Island at the Center of the New World.” Thus revealed as Liberty Island’s thematic complement, Governors Island serves as primary symbol in New York harbor and beacon to humanity whereas its historic message – the Lifeblood of American Liberty – endures for future generations.Immediately following the Coast Guard’s departure from the Island in 1998, the Alliance’s Foundation collaborated with First Lady Hillary Clinton, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger and American Ambassador to the Netherlands Cynthia Schneider in advancing the proposed Education and Preservation Project. The goal was to preserve the $1 State and City purchase option and to avoid the Island’s public auction past the Congressional legal deadline of September 2001. Based on the legal precedent of the 1785 Land Act, the Foundation succeeded in getting the White House to dedicate the Island to “education” on April 1, 2002. It was the basis for the American people’s surrender of the island’s “economic value” to the State and the City. Sixty-plus acres were set aside as “park” land prior to conveying the Island to the State for one dollar on February 1, 2003.
Public access
Since its transfer in 2003, Governors Island has been open to the public every summer. The island is currently open Friday through Sunday.Access from Brooklyn
Free weekend ferry service is available to Brooklyn Bridge Park.Paid summer weekend ferry service is operated by NY Waterway
NY Waterway
NY Waterway, or New York Waterway, is a private transportation company running ferry and bus service in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in the Hudson Valley...
between Governors Island and East River Ferry stops in DUMBO, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint. The fare is $4. A summer Friday-only loop serves Governors Island, Manhattan, Atlantic Avenue, and Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Access from Manhattan
Access from Manhattan is via a free ferry operated jointly by the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation and NY WaterwayNY Waterway
NY Waterway, or New York Waterway, is a private transportation company running ferry and bus service in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in the Hudson Valley...
from the Battery Maritime Building in the Financial District
Financial District, Manhattan
The Financial District of New York City is a neighborhood on the southernmost section of the borough of Manhattan which comprises the offices and headquarters of many of the city's major financial institutions, including the New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York...
, Friday through Sunday. The 1908 cast-iron structure, located next to the Staten Island Ferry
Staten Island Ferry
The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry service operated by the New York City Department of Transportation that runs between the boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island.-Overview:...
terminal, was restored between 2001-2006. Service on Friday is hourly, while Saturday and Sunday it is half-hourly. The departure and arrival dock on Governors Island is the Soissons Dock at the north tip of the island. The ride duration is less than five minutes.
To allow for late-night events at its Water Taxi Beach
Water Taxi Beach
Water Taxi Beach was an artificial temporary beach operated from 2005 to 2010 on a wharf on the East River in the Hunters Point section of Long Island City, in the New York City borough of Queens. It was operated by the New York Water Taxi Company and was open to the public for free during the...
, New York Water Taxi provides service back to Manhattan after such events. The fare is included for paid events and provided for a $5 roundtrip charge for free events.
Activities and publicly accessible areas
Activities on the island include free National Park ServiceNational Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
walking tours, bike riding, picnicking, art installations, fairs, festivals, and concerts. Bicycle, tandem, and quadcycle rental is provided on the island by Bike and Roll at hourly and daily rates. New York Water Taxi operates an artificial beach on the northern tip of the island.
The "World Trade Center Run to Remember" (WTCRTR) has been run annually on the island since 2009 on the first Sunday of September. The activities include a 5K Run, 3K Family Fun Run/Walk, Children's Fun Run, and other activities to benefit organizations associated with 9/11 related services.
The island is roughly divided in half by a street called Division Road. The northeastern half is currently open to the public. The southwestern half, which contains the abandoned U.S. Coast Guard housing and service areas is still in redevelopment and its interior sections remain closed to the public. However the island's circumferential drive along the waterfront is open to the public. Demolition of the U.S. Coast Guard housing began in 2008 and one small section has been opened to the public as a picnic area. It is on the grounds of the former Liberty Village housing area that was used by Coast Guard families between 1988 and 1996.
Residents
- The Smothers BrothersSmothers BrothersThe Smothers Brothers are Thomas and Richard , American singers, musicians, comedians and folk heroes. The brothers' trademark act was performing folk songs , which usually led to arguments between the siblings...
were both born on Governors Island in New York Harbor, where their father, Thomas B. Smothers, a West Point graduate and U.S. Army officer, was stationed. - Janet LambertJanet LambertJanet Lambert was an actress and author of 54 books of young adult fiction for girls from 1941 to 1969. Lambert's works, best known as the Penny and Tippy Parrish series, focused on the lives and the coming of age choices of the wives and children, especially daughters, of U.S...
, an author of young adult fiction, resided on Governors Island while her husband was the post commander in the 1950s. - Lois LowryLois LowryLois Lowry is an American author of children's literature. She began her career as a photographer and a freelance journalist during the early 1970s...
, author of The GiverThe GiverThe Giver is a 1993 soft science fiction novel by Lois Lowry. It is set in a society which is at first presented as a utopian society and gradually appears more and more dystopian. The novel follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life...
, lived on Governors Island during her high school years while her father, an army dentist, was stationed there. - Michael CollinsMichael Collins (astronaut)Michael Collins is a former American astronaut and test pilot. Selected as part of the third group of fourteen astronauts in 1963, he flew in space twice. His first spaceflight was Gemini 10, in which he and command pilot John Young performed two rendezvous with different spacecraft and Collins...
, NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
astronaut, called Governors Island home during a portion of his childhood.
See also
- List of Civil War POW Prisons and Camps
External links
- The Trust for Governors Island website
- The Governors Island National Monument website
- Governors Island Visitor information
- Governors Island Alliance
- Governors Island Art Fair
- Biking on Governors Island
- Governors Island's Legacy, New York's Identity (19-page article)
- Governors Island, Lifeblood of American Liberty (34 slides)
- National Historic Landmark information
- Governors Island Military Brats—a site made by some raised on the island
- Satellite Image
- 11/30/1907;Enlargement And Reconstruction of Governors Island's Military Post
- Photos of Governor's Island