Hart Island , which sits at the western end of New York ’s Long Island Sound , boasts more than 850,000 residents – all of them numb . The island is now used primarily as a thrower ’s field , but in its past it has housed a POW ingroup , a rehab facility , and a cleaning lady ’s insane asylum .
New York City purchased Hart Island in 1869 , and immediately began using the island as a burial ground . Today , it ’s the largest publicly run cemetery in the world , although track record of most of its burial were lost in 1977 in a fervency set by vandals . The potter ’s field of battle takes up the northerly half of the island , but the southern area has had a host of use . During the American Civil War , it served as an internment camp for Confederate prisoners of war , and in WWII it was again used as a prisoner of war encampment . The rehab facility Phoenix House once had a facility there , as did a woman ’s asylum called the Pavilion . The island has house a male child ’s workhouse , a quarantine center , and , at various times , a prison house . Today , there are still end of Hart ’s human natural action , including hospital beds , Department of Corrections records , and shoes made by residents of Phoenix House . Visitors can still stumble upon the places where land is being excavate for next serious site and the occasional unburied casket .
All of these photo were taken by urban explorer Richard Nickel Jr. in conjunction with Marie Lorenz . Visit Nickel ’s blogfor many , many more photos of Hart Island , including a tumble Catholic chapel and mass grave website . [ viaSpike Trotman ]
Edit : For even more information and exposure of Hart Island , be sure to check out Melinda Hunt’sHart Island Project . Hunt is work to increase the accessibility and visibility , as well as open up the record of the people buried there so their families can retrieve their final resting situation . She ’s also the author ofHart Island , the book from which the Nickel web log spot was republished .
Also , Richard Nickel Jr. is manifestly a pseudonym forIan Ference . you could see his astonishing urban archeology photos at his blog , The Kingston Lounge .
Top image is of a ward building that was originally part of the women ’s hospital and was later repurposed to be part of Phoenix House . exposure by Ian Ference .
The southern ingress to the Pavilion building . Photo by Ian Ference .
The 2d story of the Pavilion . Photo by Ian Ference .
Department of Corrections record storage building . Photo by Ian Ference .
Patient bed from the ward building . exposure by Ian Ference .
Unburied coffins find in the Mary Augusta Arnold Ward building . Photo by Ian Ference .
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