Would Anyone Like to Go Urban Camping? (A Brief History of Roosevelt Island)

I live near Roosevelt Island, a strip of land in the middle of the East River, between Manhattan and Queens. The Island has a rather rich an sordid history: at one time, built upon its grounds was a prison, a workhouse, an almshouse, a small-pox hospital, and an insane asylum. The latter was made famous by New York World reporter Nellie Bly. In an 1887 article, she went undercover as an insane woman to expose ill-treatment of the asylum's inmates. Today, the asylum building is a luxury condo.

You can see Roosevelt Island's various institutions in this 1903 Edison film. Also note that you can see the Queensborough Bridge in the process of being built--neat!



The Smallpox Hospital, on the south end of the island, still exists. After the smallpox epidemic was over, the building opened as a Nurse's School which closed its doors in the 1950s. The building has been abandoned since, and it's ruins are dramatically lit by the same lighting designer that illuminated the Statue of Liberty. You can get a good view of it from the Manhattan shoreline on the FDR.


I was fortunate enough to see the ruins up close. In 2008, Open House New York opened up South Point, the overgrown swath of land surrounding the ruins that has tentative plans to be turned into a park. Currently, it's locked up for all but special events. What's wonderful about South Point is that it feels wild--and it is. Unlike Olmstead's carefully constructed vision for Central Park, South Point is nature built from neglect. Walking through its center on a warm October evening, I could neither hear nor see the city. Woods open up to a grassy lawn, with breathtaking views of Manhattan and Queens on either side.

The space is ripe for an Urban Camping expedition.

I first went Urban Camping in Cleveland, on an empty lot on the city's west side that was once a teeming Civil War hospital. I wanted to draw attention to the neglected patch of land and increase the neighborhood's awareness of the history that took place on that unassuming lot. Myself and six friends camped out overnight: we built a campfire, cooked dinner and breakfast, told stories, played music. It felt positively rural--but all we had to do was look up to see Cleveland's gleaming skyline. Late in the night we were treated to a sky full of fireworks over Jacob's Field.

Southpoint is just right for the second installment of Urban Camping. The combination of the rural and urban is intoxicating. And the area has a rich history--in fact, in the Southpoint area quarantined smallpox victims were cared for in what Resident Physician William Kelly described as "a pile of poor wooden out houses on the banks of the river."

So would anyone be interested in joining me this summer? Additionally, is their anyone in the know who can recommend someone I can talk to about getting permissions for such an event? I'm going to put together a proposal this Spring.

Camp Out at Camp Cleveland (Urban Camping)- Tremont paper Article

Urban Camping Video

The Roosevelt Island Historical Society