Upper East Side
East River
New York
In my over eleven years
as a New Yorker, I have been to visit Roosevelt Island four times. The first
was about ten years ago, the most recent was early this spring. There has been
some pretty big changes going on about the island, but I can’t say they’ve all
been good. Somehow, while cleaning up the area, it also began to lose some of
its charm. It’s not entirely gone, however; there are still some packets of
glitter here and there.
You can get to Roosevelt
Island on the F-train, but anyone who’s anyone takes the Tram from 59th
Street and Second Avenue. Don’t worry, if it falls, Spiderman will save you.
The Tram ride over is the main reason most people go to Roosevelt Island in the
first place. Many people get off and take the next car back over to Manhattan.
Which is a shame as they’re missing out on lovely views of Manhattan, Brooklyn,
and Queens from a magnolia tree lined path that circles most of the island.
Ten years ago there were
wonderful signs that led visitors on a self-guided walking tour. These signs
are now either all gone or ruined by weather/vandals and the Roosevelt Island
Historical Society’s solution seems to be to ask people to help replace them
rather than to replace them themselves. Today your best option is to download a
hard-to-read map with insanely tiny type put out by the Roosevelt Island
Operating Corporation. A small visitors center has been restored and reopened
by the RIHS. It is rarely open and sells a nondescript map with no didactics of
the historical structures on the island. Perhaps the RIHS is hoping to draw
more people to its occasional walking tours by refusing to replace the
guided-tour signs or offer a more informative map.
Has lost some charm: Strecker Laboratory. It used to be one had to view
this crumbling 19th-century Romanesque Revival structure made from
rusticated local stone from behind a rusty, weed-laden fence. It had a spooky
aura about it, like the pathological and bacteriological work done in it was à la
Island of Dr. Moreau. Now its been cleaned up and has fresh paint on the doors
and windows. It’s part of the shiny new F.D.R Memorial Park at the southern tip
of the island. On the plus side, there are now public toilets for visitors. My
first few visits were laden with incidents of public urination.
Still has its charm: Smallpox Hospital. After the tram ride, this is
the second coolest thing about Roosevelt Island. This Gothic Revival structure
is something straight out of The Mysteries of Udolpho. It was open in 1856 to accept charity cases.
Despite the development of vaccinations, NYC continued to be plagued by
smallpox epidemics as late at the 1870s. It was later turned into a housing
unit for the nurses of the Charity Hospital Training School opened just to the
north. Because generally poor individuals were treated for free on the island,
it got the name Welfare Island. The Smallpox Hospital is beyond repair and is
tucked safely behind a fence. Wooden and metal support beams keep the standing
walls from collapse. It looks particularly spooky lit by floodlights at night
and can be seen from Manhattan.
Has lost some charm: Blackwell House. Not that this 18th
century Dutch farmhouse was ever that charming. Or maybe it’s just sour grapes.
New York is filled with 17th and 18th century Dutch
houses that are closed off to the general public. I find it annoying to not be
allowed inside preserved historical structures. Blackwell House is used as a
community center for meetings and the whatnot. In my four visits to the island
I have never seen nor heard anything about it being opened to the general
community. Nor can one properly look inside the windows to see anything of
interest. Humpf!
Still has its charm: The Lighthouse. I mean, who doesn’t love darling
little lighthouses? And this one has a great story to go with it: In the 19th
century, John McCarthy, a patient from the Lunatic Asylum was granted
permission to build a fort because he feared the invasion of the British. When
the plans to build a lighthouse were formulated, they had to bribe the patient
with fake funds to get him to demolish his fort. McCarthy later claimed to
build the lighthouse himself and even carved an inscription near the foot of
the lighthouse taking credit for the work he never actually did.
Has lost some charm: Octagon Tower. Like the Strecker Laboratory, I
liked the Octagon Tower better when it was a vine-riddled crumbling structure
behind a fence (that was very easy to crawl through). It once served as the
main entranceway for the New York Lunatic Asylum; now it is part of a new
residential building that boasts Adirondack chairs, a community garden, and a gallery that features
Roosevelt Island themed exhibitions. I will grudgingly admit that the restored
spiral staircase looping up through the foyer is awfully nice.
Everything else: The Chapel of the Good Shepherd—like most
churches—is lovely, but rarely open to the public outside of worship hours so
you have to admire it from the outside. Across the street from it is the
cheapest (both in price and quality) Salvation Army I have ever seen. The Tom
Otterness statues along the Western Promenade are typical of his cutesy but
bland Monopoly style works. The Meditation Steps are falling apart and the pier
in the form of a boat prow is covered in graffiti, but that’s the best part
about it. There’s an extremely sparkly statue in the F-train lobby, which seems
to be a metaphor for Roosevelt Island’s recent hit-and-miss efforts to spiffy
itself up.
One of my favorite things
about Roosevelt Island is its Automated Vacuum Collection System, which is also
found in Disney World. You can’t see them, but there are tubes all over the
island that suction residents’ waste to the AVAC building where it is
compacted. This is just one of the little gems of information provided on the
now-missing self-guided walking tour placards.
Roosevelt Island can be a
nice place to visit if you’re looking for something a bit different and out of
the ordinary to do. Note, however, that the island can give off a bit of a sad,
dejected air. My boyfriend became quite depressed while visiting the place and has no desire to return,
so if you’re prone to melancholia, it’s perhaps best to avoid Welfare Island. I, however,
think it’s a nice place to take a stroll every few years.
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