Did you know NYC is home to a nationally recognized collection of uninhabited islands right here in our own city? Called the Harbor Herons Region, these uninhabited islands cover great marshes best for gulls, herons, cormorants, and egrets. And one of those protected areas is known as North Brother Island in the Bronx.
North Brother Island wasn’t always without humans. The island used to house Riverside Hospital back in 1881 through 1943 (ruins you can still see on the island today), before the land was utilized for WWII veterans’ housing from 1946-1951, and eventually a youth drug rehabilitation center from 1952-1964.
Riverside Hospital on North Brother Island
The new Riverside Hospital on North Brother Island was city-owned and operated. It spanned countless buildings with pavilions, laboratories, and accommodation facilities for doctors, nurses, and other staff. The hospital handled patients with various illnesses over the years, from small pox to polio and tuberculosis to typhoid.
One of the more notorious residents of North Brother Island was Mary Mallon. Mary, otherwise known as “Typhoid Mary” was an Irish immigrant and the island’s longest term resident.
She was an asymptomatic carrier of Typhoid, and a private cook in NYC, who was arrested and quarantined for three years after various Typhoid outbreaks were linked back to her. Mary was released on the agreement that she’d never cook for others again. It wasn’t until her second arrest, after being discovered cooking at an NYC maternity hospital under a false identity, that she was taken to North Brother Island. She resided in a private cottage on the island until she died in 1938.
The General Slocum Tragedy at North Brother Island
Prior to September 11, 2001, North Brother Island was the site of NYC’s largest loss of life when a steamship titled General Slocum erupted in flames and sank, taking down more than 1,000 immigrants from the LES out on a recreational day trip. However, hospital staff members were able to rescue about 250 people by using ladders from construction sites on the island, according to a study out of the University of Pennsylvania.
It’s been reported at the time of closure that the hospital had a total of 34 buildings. Now, its remaining 25 buildings are in various states of decrepit ruin. This, in addition to North Brother Island’s difficult location, wildlife concern and potentially harmful terrain make outside visits very rare affair.
How to visit North Brother Island
Nowadays, NYC Parks heavily restricts who can access the island. Interested visitors must apply for a permit under academic or scientific purposes. NYC Parks can only approve four permits per year (fall to winter).
Visits are not permitted between March 21st and September 21st because it is shorebird breeding season. Once approved, it’s the responsibility of the visitors to charter a boat with the accompanying NYC Parks staff. Learn how to apply on the NYC Parks website.
Other ways to see the island from afar include certain NYC boat tours like Classic Harbor Line’s “Urban Naturalist Tour: Abandoned Islands of the East River at Sunset” that takes passengers around NYC’s abandoned islands.