Ask most people to name islands in New York City and they'll tell you Manhattan or Staten Island.Ask Mike Cohn, and he'll tell you North and South Brother Islands, two little-known ones off the Bronx in the East River.
The retired educator and amateur anthropologist is working to get the islands added to the Gateway National Recreation Area, the nation's first urban national park which, incidentally, he helped create back in 1972.
The 7-acre, uninhabited South Brother Island is considered a key nesting colony for several types of shore birds, including the Great Egret, Double-crested Cormorant, Snowy Egret and Black-crowned Night Heron.
Larger North Brother Island was once home to a quarantine facility for tuberculosis and typhoid cases from the 1880s to early in World War II.
South Brother Island also once served as the summer retreat of Yankees owner and beer magnate Col. Jacob Ruppert.
And in 1904, the excursion steamer General Slocum caught fire, killing more than 1,000 passengers. It beached on North Brother Island in a catastrophe Cohn called the greatest city disaster before Sept. 11.
Mike Cohn working on a bigger Gateway on Brother Islands
3 comments:
The channel between the brothers would be a good place for tidal generators.
Considering how great a steward the Feds have been to Frank M. Charles Park, I'm skeptical on this plan.
I'm one of these pirate urban explorers and have been on those Islands they are all birds and bugs. (Pre-911)
You can walk over brush and find yourself falling through into some rotted mucky basement on to small mountaing of dimbers and rusting steel, nails, water, mud, quicksand like "soup"
(I beleive they may have had a secret backup Nike missle silo on the Island)
There ARE Nike missle silos on Hart Island
If anything they should just revamp the main dock and old trail that circles N Brother.
It is a very interesting looking place.
Shame how they let that old lighthouse go.
The tower and front of the building have collapsed backward the windows face the sky. Interesting story:
They let this guy buy it to restore as a museum then the city and envirmental people him gave him so much red tape he couldn’t work on it.
The lighthouse area still has a Berlin like wall to keep patients at bay. Its shoreline has massive damage do to neglect the cement its all broken up, sharp rocks, the Hell Gate currents.
Its a very dangerious place to come a ground...the RADAR from LGA and the FLIR (forward looking infered)at Rikers can see a rubber boat with a small moter.
Its only 11-15 acres with no place to hide
Night or day they come and jail you now...no more tresspassing tickets
2 days in Rikers waiting to be arrained in Queeens court.
-Joe
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