Hart Island's History

Hart Island Lighthouse, by Dennis Jarvis, CC By-SA 2.0

Hart Island is located at the western end of Long Island Sound to the east of City Island, in Bronx, New York City. It's not large, only 1 mile long by .33 miles wide. However, its ground has been broken many times and used for many purposes and perhaps the most touching, and haunting purpose is a potter's field. 

In 1870 victims of Yellow Fever were quarantined on Hart's Island. In 1885, a building to house Tuberculosis victims was built. In 1895, a workhouse for men was established followed by a workhouse for boys in 1905. Also in the early 1900s Hart Island housed a prison until approximately 1966 when penial code changed.  In 1967 a drug rehabilitation center was opened called "Phoenix House" It grew to houses, 350 residents. The center hosted festivals, published a newsletter, had a garden, and hosted baseball games. The center remained on Hart Island until the late 70s when it moved to a building in Manhattan.

A Trench at the potter's field on Hart Island, circa 1890 by Jacob Riss

Those buildings are now decaying in the background as bodies are committed to the ground. According to Wikipedia.com, the first to be buried on the island were Union Army soldiers during the Civil War. After New York City purchased the island in 1868, city burials began on the island. There are now over one million people buried on Hart Island. People buried on the island are unknown, unclaimed or indigent people. Many buried on Hart Island couldn't afford a private funeral and were not claimed by their relatives.  According to reuters.com, "about a thousand people are now buried on Hart Island each year." 

During the height of the AIDS crisis starting in the late 80s, more than 100,000 people died in NY of AIDS. There was fear that the victims of the virus would contaminate others so hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people infected were buried on Heart Island. The first child victim of AIDS who died in NYC is buried on Heart Island with a marker that reads simply "SC (Special Child) B1 (Baby 1) 1985."

Due to the taxpayer expense, the burials are now conducted by inmates. Instead of being housed on Hart Island like in the past, prisoners now help to bury the dead. They are paid 50¢/hr. 

The only way to Hart Island is by ferry. Much like the ferryman boating the dead across the river Styx in Greek Mythology, many of NYC's dead are now ferried across Long Island Sound to Hart Island. Ferries go to the Island from Fordham Street Pier located on City Island.

All burial records are kept within the prison system, making it difficult for the public to get information about their loved ones. The Hart Island Project, a nonprofit charitable organization since 1994, has helped family members obtain burial records of their loved ones.

There are frequent disinterments when families of someone previously unknown buried on Hart Island are identified through DNA, photos, or fingerprints which are kept on file at the Medical Examiner's Office.

In 2013 legislation was passed requiring the Department of Corrections to make public an online database of the burials on the island, which has over 66,000 entires.

Visitation to Hart Island is restricted and NY City Department of Corrections schedules any visits family members wish to have. They have to have proof that their family member is buried on the island. Currently, no one is allowed on the island without prior approval from the Department of Corrections.

However, November 2019, a bill was passed that transferred jurisdiction of Hart's Island from the Department of Corrections to NYC Depart of Parks and Recreation ultimately making it easier for the loves of the dead buried on Hart's Island to visit their graves.

Hart Island's soil is full of history. It's hollowed ground, especially to those who have loved ones buried on the island. With all the mass graves, violence and sickness Heart Island has seen through the centuries, it no doubt, paints a picture of Hart Island being a cold, desolate, and haunting place.