North Brother Island — Attraction in New York

Many New Yorker are not acquainted with this mysterious isle, even though she is located almost in front of their noses. The 22 acres island was claimed sometime during 1611 and 1614 by Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It was taken, along with an adjacent island to the south known as South Brother, for the Dutch West India Company. An early colonization of the Island was prevented due to the strong streaming of the East River.

NBI was uninhabited until 1885, when the city purchased the island in order to build Riverside Hospital, a hospital for people suffering from contagious diseases such as typhus, tuberculosis, yellow fever, and smallpox. Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary, was confined to the island for over two decades until she died there in 1938. The hospital closed shortly thereafter.

On June 15, 1904 over 1,000 people died either from the fire on board of the General Slocum steamship, which caught fire near the island, or from drowning before the ship beached on the island's shores. Many of the staff assisted in the rescue of some of the 321 survivors. It was the worst loss of life in US history until the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The hospital was reopened after WW2, first to house war veterans and later as a treatment for heroin addicts. In 1963, it closed its doors for good and has been left to decay ever since. The island is officially off-limits to the public, as it is a bird sanctuary for one of the area’s largest nesting colonies Night Herons and other wading shorebirds.

Over the years, various New York City mayors have explored what to do with the island. John Lindsay, for instance, proposed to sell it, and Ed Koch thought it could be converted into housing for the homeless. The city also considered using it as an extension of the jail at Rikers Island.

Most of the 25 or so original hospitals' buildings still stand, but are heavily deteriorated and in danger of collapse, and vegetation conceals and overtakes the ruined...

North Brother Island, off the coast of the Bronx, was always more than just an abandoned place. It was a forgotten world, a small island once bustling with life but now shrouded in mystery and decay.

When I moved there, I knew it wouldn’t be easy. The city granted me permission as part of a restoration project. Living alone on North Brother Island was like stepping back in time. The old hospital buildings, once home to patients with infectious diseases, stood as silent reminders of its grim past. Vines crawled over the crumbling walls, and nature had reclaimed most of the land, with trees growing through rooftops and cracked pavements.

Each morning, I woke to the sounds of birds, the only other residents left on the island. The skyline of Manhattan was visible from the shore, a distant reminder of the bustling city I had left behind. But here, it was different. Quiet, eerie, and peaceful all at once.

At night, the wind whispered through the broken windows of the old quarantine hospital, carrying with it the stories of those who had lived—and died—on the island. Some nights, it felt like the past was closer than the present, as if the island remembered every soul that had walked its grounds.

Despite the isolation, there was a certain freedom in living on North Brother Island. No cars, no crowds, no noise—just the hum of the wind, the rustling leaves, and the occasional boat passing by. I found beauty in the solitude, even if it came with a hint of sadness.

But the island had a way of reminding me that it wasn't entirely abandoned. One evening, as the sun dipped behind the city skyline, I saw a shadow moving near one of the old buildings. For a moment, I thought I was imagining it. But then I realized—North Brother Island had its own stories to tell, and I was just another chapter in its long,...

My brother had gotten very sick with something like the chicken pox but worse! His mind made up, we were told he was leaving home and going to live on this island. He had been gone for a very long time with no calls or even a letter... Our family sent me to find him and bring him home. I arrived to this beautiful place and began to search for my brother. Checking the island There was no trace of him... I did find/meet a woman that happened to be hanging out in the main building and her name was "Mary." She coughed profusely and complained a bit about her severe headaches. I resumed my search from building to building for my brother and the creepy thing is that Mary kept following me... I don't know how she did it but many times she was already in next building when I'd walk in. Very strange; Like she could walk through walls. After I was satisfied that my brother was not on this island, I wanted to thank Mary for assisting my search... I couldn't find her as well. She had...