We will visit each of the sites titled in red (and noted with an asterisk *) and do our best to visit them in the order they appear here. But, to keep on schedule, we will not stop at sites titled in black. We strongly encourage you to visit those we’ll skip — and, indeed, everything on the list — on your own!
Soissons Landing*
(adapted from Governors Island website)
Soissons Landing is the place where the Coursen and NY Waterways ferries drop off their visitors to Governors Island. Soissons Landing was named after a town in France that was the site of a decisive battle in World War I where the combined Allied forces regained ground from the Axis powers, with France suffering the highest number of casualties. The American 16th Regiment that fought in that battle was stationed on Governors Island after the war and so named the landing Soissons in commemoration of that unit’s role in the costly but important victory at Soissons.
National Parks With T – Governors Island National Monument
Wikipedia – Battle of Soissons
Fort Jay*
(adapted from the National Park Service website)
Defensive earthen works were first erected on the highest point of Governors Island by Continental Army troops in 1775-76. The British occupied the island and its fort during the American Revolution until 1783, when it was surrendered, along with several buildings, to the Governor of New York. Fort Jay takes its name from John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States (1789-95) and second Governor of the State of New York (1795-1801). Reconstruction work to the fort and other island structures began in 1794. This was part of a larger national effort to fortify ports that later became known as the First American System of coastal fortifications but after eight years, in 1802, the fort was reportedly “incomplete and incapable of defense.”
A second “campaign” to strengthen coastal forts began in 1806, at which point Fort Jay was significantly altered and renamed Fort Columbus. The name Fort Jay wasn’t reinstated until 1904. In the early 20th century, Fort Jay included a notoriously difficult 9-hole golf course (6 holes, with three holed played twice) on its glacis and just beyond its walled precinct.
National Park Service – Fort Jay
Wikipedia – Governors Island Golf Course
Brooklyn Battery (Hugh L. Carey) Tunnel Vent Shaft*
(adapted from pci.org and Wikipedia websites)
The octagonal shaped Ventilation Building for the Hugh L. Carey (formerly Brooklyn-Battery) Tunnel sits to the northeast of Governors Island in Buttermilk Channel. The Governor’s Island ventilation building, designed by McKim, Mead & White, is one of four structures that contain dozens of giant fans responsible for pulling vehicle emissions out and can completely replace the tunnel’s air every ninety seconds.
In October 2012, the storm surge from Superstorm Sandy completely flooded 6,000 feet of each tube of the tunnel with seawater, damaging mechanical, lighting, and ventilation systems. Part of the rehabilitation project included upgrades to the Governors Island Ventilation Building.
The Governors Island ventilation structure is located over the midpoint of the tunnel at its lowest point. Although it passes just offshore of Governors Island, the tunnel does not provide vehicular access to the island. With a length of 9,117 feet (2,779 m), it is the longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel in North America.
PCI Mid-Atlantic – Precast Protects Vital Ventilation Building for Brooklyn Battery Tunnel
Wikipedia – Brooklyn Battery Tunnel
New York Harbor School MAST Center*
The MAST Center is one of two locations of the Urban Assembly Harbor School, a specialized public Career and Technical Education (CTE) high school. CTE schools base their curricula on the growing need for college-educated people who are also trained in technical fields. CTE coursework includes a continuum of work-based learning experiences that extend student learning from the school classroom into a real-world, work-related context.
Billion Oyster Project*
(adapted from Harbor School website)
The Billion Oyster Project (BOP) is a long-term, large-scale plan to restore one billion live oysters to New York Harbor over the next twenty years and in the process train thousands of young people in New York City to restore the ecology and economy of their local marine environment.
BOP is a partnership of schools, businesses, nonprofits, and individuals all working together to grow oysters and make our city a healthier and more resilient place to live. This partnership also includes local, state, and federal regulatory agencies – the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – with whom we work closely to certify and monitor our aquaculture methodology and ongoing habitat restoration projects.
The Billion Oyster Project has been based at the New York Harbor School since its inception and is the nucleus of what is now the region’s largest marine restoration program; a worldwide model for engaging youth in urban marine ecosystem restoration.
New York Harbor School students work hand in hand with the BOP. Our students grow, monitor, and research oysters and their habitats through internships, volunteer work, and their specific programs of study.
New York Harbor School – Billion Oyster Project
Billion Oyster Project Website
Nolan Park, Admiral’s House / American Indian Community House*
(adapted from Governors Island and Wikipedia websites)
The Admiral’s House was originally designed by Martin E. Thompson, a noted 19th century architect and co-founder of the National Academy of Design. The original house was built in the Greek Revival style, and completed in 1843. A south wing was added in 1886, and, during the period of 1893-1918, the roof was raised for the installation of a Colonial Revival entrance portico.The rear of the house was redesigned in 1936-37 by Charles O. Cornelius. On December 7, 1988, the house was the location of a meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev, then General Secretary of the Soviet Union and U.S. President Ronald Reagan, immediately after Gorbachev’s speech to the United Nations announcing “perestroika“. The summit meeting helped the two countries to take steps which led to the end of the Cold War. The Admiral’s House is both on the National Register of Historic Places and a New York City designated landmark.
The American Indian Community House (AICH), founded in 1969, is a community-based organization with a mission to improve and promote the well-being of the American Indian Community and to increase the visibility of American Indian cultures in an urban setting. AICH is the current occupant of the building known as the Admiral’s House, which has been used to present exhibitions, performances, and other cultural and educational programs, as well as to host artists in residence.
American Indian Community House website
Nolan Park, Building 4A / Endangered Languages Alliance*
(adapted from the ELA website)
The Endangered Language Alliance (ELA) is a non-profit dedicated to documenting and supporting linguistic diversity and endangered languages in New York City and beyond.
The New York metropolitan area is the most linguistically diverse urban center in the world, probably in the history of the world. Based on a decade of work, ELA has mapped nearly 700 language varieties in over 1200 significant sites around the metropolitan area, including neighborhoods, community institutions, restaurants, and other locations where there is, or was, at least one speaker. ELA released a print map of the entire city in December 2019 to coincide with the UN-declared International Year of Indigenous Languages and the lead-up to the critical U.S. 2020 census.
ELA is committed to representing many of the smaller, minority, and Indigenous languages that are primarily oral and have neither public visibility nor official support. ELA draws on thousands of interviews and discussions to tell the continuing story of the city’s many languages and cultures.
Endangered Language Alliance website
Nolan Park, Building 5B / Works on Water WOWHAUS
(adapted from the Works on Water website)
WOWHAUS, the Works on Water Studio Residency, provides an incubator space for diverse investigations of water in the urban environment. Works on Water, in partnership with Underwater New York, brings together scientists, policy-makers, and visual, performance-based and literary artists working on, in and with the water.
Nolan Park, Building 9 (former Post Hospital)
(adapted from Governors Island website)
Built in 1839 to serve as Governors Island’s military Post Hospital, Building 9 has seen a variety of uses and names through its 180-year history. Even while serving its original purpose of hospital and medical training center, Building 9 housed officers and prisoners as well, being referred to as the Block House for that purpose. Notably, a young Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant stayed in the Block House in 1852 while his unit was briefly stationed on the Island.
In 1874, the Army converted Building 9 to fill other roles including kitchen and mess hall, court chambers, chapel, and even ballroom. Now, Building 9 serves as housing for Governors Island ferry crews who stay there when the Samuel Coursen (Governors Island’s main ferry, in service since 1956) docks on the Island overnight.
Governors Island Website – First Post Hospital
Nolan Park, Building 10a / Harvestworks
(adapted from Harvestworks website)
Harvestworks Art and Technology Program on Governors Island is centered on art works created at the intersection of art and technology. Events include artists’ open studios, exhibitions of digital media art, workshops and performances. Harvestworks’ goals are to provide exhibition opportunities for electronic media artists and also to educate the public about how artists use new and emerging technology for artistic expression.
Governors Island Website – Harvestworks
Nolan Park, Building 40 / Former Synagogue
(adapted from The Jewish Forward, United States Coast Guard Guide to Governors Island, Wikipedia)
A synagogue housing the congregation, Shaare Shomayim, occupied this wood-frame building, which was originally constructed as a warehouse during World War 1. In one guide, the building is identified as the Fort Jay Jewish Religious Center.
When the warehouse was converted into a synagogue (ca. 1959) two Jewish stars and Hebrew letters reading beit haknesset (“house of assembly”) were painted in gold and affixed to the outside of the building, above the entry. The synagogue, which featured stained-glass windows with nautical themes from the book of Psalms, included a chapel, social hall, and a kosher kitchen. Renovation drawings from as late as 1990 indicate the location of the ark to house the Torah scrolls within the chapel. Notes on the drawings advise that the contractor shall “paint religious symbols with 2 coats of gold paint.”
Forward.com Article – A Lonely Synagogue on an Empty Island
Archive.org – A Guide to Governors Island
Nolan Park, Building 11 / NY Virtual Volcano Observatory*
(adapted from NYVVO website)
The New York Virtual Volcano Observatory on Governors Island recreates the experience of exploring a volcano within New York City. The Observatory seeks to engage visitors of all ages in the excitement of geology and to share the surprisingly important role New York City has played in volcano science. The mission of the organization is to promote collaboration between NYC-based scientists and artists, featuring real and virtual interactions with volcanic geology.
Governors Island Website – New York Virtual Volcano Observatory
The Yard Adventure Playground
(near Nolan Park, Building 11)
(adapted from PlayGroundNYC website)
The Yard is a kids-only space where young people play with loose parts materials for building, exploring, imagining and destroying. Tools include nails, hammers and saws, paint, tires, wood, fabrics and more. There are play:groundNYC trained playworkers in The Yard at all times.
play:groundNYC is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming the city through play. play:groundNYC promotes the urban environment as a place for all children to play, create and explore, regardless of demographic status. Playwork is an approach to working with children that removes their barriers to play. Trained playworkers support all kinds of play through active engagement and awareness. They assess the benefits and risks involved in the play, on physical, social and emotional levels. They do not interrupt, offer unsolicited advice and suggestions, or break the flow of play.
Governors Island Website – The Yard
Chapel of St. Cornelius the Centurion
(adapted from Trinity Church Wall Street and New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists websites)
The original Chapel of St. Cornelius the Centurion was built on Governors Island in 1846. Twenty years later, in 1866, the War Department stopped providing chaplains to Governor’s Island so Trinity Church offered to maintain a chaplain at its own cost if the army would agree to place the chapel under the parish’s control. St. Cornelius became a part of Trinity Parish as a free chapel in 1868. The original chapel was replaced by the current, much larger structure in 1906.
The new chapel, a cruciform structure of buff Indiana limestone, was designed by Charles C. Haight in the English Gothic style and features a massive tower, nave, transepts, chancel, and side chapel. The clergy and choir sacristies and the organ are on the south side of the chancel. Under the chancel is a mortuary chapel, and the roof of this and the entire crypt is vaulted with flat Italian tile. Until recently the chapel housed historically significant battle flags and other symbolic relics.
Trinity Church Wall Street – History and Archives: St. Cornelius the Centurion
NYC Chapter of the American Guild of Organists – St. Cornelius the Centurion
South Battery Buildings
(adapted from Governors Island website)
The central South Battery building consists of masonry construction within the sandstone walls of an 1812 fortification. The South Battery District includes several buildings and occupies the east side of Governors Island, facing Buttermilk Channel and Brooklyn. Former uses of its buildings were primarily community-oriented, including a theater, school, YMCA, and houses of worship.
The May Room / Shantell Martin art installation*
(adapted from Governors Island website)
Built in 1942, Our Lady Star of the Sea originally opened as a Catholic chapel during the Second World War. Serving as a central hub of religious activity on the Island along with nearby St. Cornelius Chapel, Our Lady Star of the Sea remained in use until 1996 when the U.S. Coast Guard ceased operations on Governors Island. Deconsecrated for over 20 years, the former chapel is one of the few non-landmarked buildings located within the Governors Island Historic District.
Artist Shantell Martin uses her signature black and white drawings to transform both the exterior and interior of the disused church building. Inspired by her research on the history of the Island, Martin invites visitors to circumnavigate the former chapel’s architecture through image and narrative. The work serves to highlight and help re-imagine a building that has long been empty and closed to the public. Martin’s large-scale drawings pay tribute to the building’s former use as a religious structure while creating contemporary spaces for wonder, contemplation, discussion and quiet reprieve.
Governors Island Website – The May Room
Colonels Row
(adapted from Governors Island, Urban Archive, and Trainweb websites)
In the 1870s, the Army built six large brick houses for high-ranking officers in the area now known as Colonels Row. By 1878, Governors Island had evolved from a small military outpost to an army headquarters and garrison.
The Colonels Row area marks the division between the Island’s original coastline and the South Island, a land reclamation effort that was completed in the early 20th Century. By 1902, the Army began to enlarge the island to accommodate more facilities and personnel. The ambitious expansion used landfill excavated from the construction of the new Lexington Avenue subway line, adding over 100 acres of new land, more than doubling the Island’s size to the current 172 acres.
The Governors Island railroad was built to help move goods and materials around the island during and after the land expansion. With only 8 miles of track, it was sometimes referred to as the world’s shortest railroad.
During World War I, the Army built the Governor’s Island Railroad to move supplies and equipment around the 172-acre island. During the War, Governors Island was a major supply base and troop embarkation point. The southern extension of the Island furnished valuable space for warehouses where war supplies valued at more than $75,000,000 were stored prior to shipment to France. Architectural plans and Fairchild Aerial Survey photographs of the island from ca.1919 show the entire South Island lined with Quartermaster Supply Buildings, served by three central railroad tracks running north and south, with the outside tracks splitting off to the east and west into alleys between the warehouses. The railroad had a total of 8 miles of track and three flat cars that connected the pier, shops, and warehouses. The New York Times reported the demise of the railroad in 1931 while also advertising the sale of its rolling stock including a “wheezing locomotive” named “Big Bertha.”
Urban Archives Digital Walking Guide to Governors Island
Trainweb.org Entry on Governors Island Railway
Trainweb.org War Department Plan for Governors Island
Governors Island Website – History
403 Colonel’s Row / Gallatin WetLab*
(adapted from Governors Island and WetLab websites)
The Gallatin WetLab is a new initiative of professors Karen Holmberg and Eugenia Kisin for experimental public-facing teaching and learning across the environmental arts and sciences. Recent curatorial and teaching exhibitions include PHREATIC and Contretemps!
Governors Island Website – WetLab
Early Birds Monument*
(adapted from Governors Island and Urban Archive websites)
Once finished, the South Island’s flat terrain became home to a makeshift airfield. At a public event in 1909, Orville Wright took off from Governors Island for the first American flight over water. Other early aviators also visited the island, including Ruth Law who landed here in 1916, the day after breaking the record for American cross-country flight distance.
The airfield continued in use until 1918, when the South Island became too crowded with buildings to safely allow takeoffs and landings
GovernorsIslandGuide.com – The Early Birds Monument and Governors Island Aviation Pioneers
Urban Archive Digital Walking Tour of Governors Island
Urban Farm / GrowNYC
(adapted from Governors Island, New York Times, GrowNYC websites)
Since 2015, GrowNYC’sTeaching Garden has been a fixture in Governors Island’s Urban Farm, welcoming visitors on weekends during the public season and field trips of students throughout the year.
Visitors learn about urban agriculture and green infrastructure through workshops and family-friendly activities. The Teaching Garden features over 20 vegetable beds made from recycled plastic lumber, farm-style rows, an aquaponics system, an outdoor kitchen, a large solar oven, a high tunnel greenhouse, fruit trees, several rainwater harvesting systems, a rain garden, and more.
As the pandemic took hold, GrowNYC developed a new direction for the Teaching Garden as staff converted the garden’s demonstration plots to produce an abundance of berries, beets, collard greens, eggplants, herbs, squash, and potatoes that were sent to emergency food distribution centers in the Bronx, Harlem and central and eastern Brooklyn.
Governors Island Website – Grow NYU Teaching Gardent
New York Times – How This N.Y. Island Went From Tourist Hot Spot to Emergency Garden
Urban Farm / Bee Sanctuary
(adapted from Governors Island and Bee Conservancy websites)
The Bee Conservancy invites visitors to observe bees in their native habitats within the Urban Farm on Governors Island. North America is home to over 4,000 native bee species, which help pollinate 1 in 3 bites of food we eat and are essential to the health and prosperity of countless ecosystems. Sadly, 1 in 4 of these wild bee species are at risk of extinction. Habitat loss is one of the greatest threats to bees today. The Bee Conservancy creates safe havens for bees to thrive and ecosystems to flourish.
The Bee Conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting bees, safeguarding the environment, and securing food justice through education, research, habitat creation, and advocacy.
Governors Island Website – Bee Sanctuary
Earth Matter Compost Learning Center
(adapted from Governors Island and Earth Matter websites)
The Compost Learning Center processes all of the food scraps and landscape debris generated on Governors Island. Urban composting has dual purposes: diverting organic waste from the landfill and amending existing soil. The Soil Start Farm demonstrates how gardeners can use readily available materials to create compost to grow plants in urban soil conditions.
Earth Matter NY is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the art, science, and application of composting in and around New York City. Earth Matter NY accepts and processes food waste generated by NYC residents through a partnership with DSNY’s NYC Compost Project. Through a partnership with The Trust for Governors Island, we process all of the landscape waste and food waste generated by island partners and visitors to the island.
Governors Island Website – Earth Matter
Outlook Hill*
(adapted from West 8 website)
The Hills are the culminating feature of West 8’s award-winning Governors Island Public Space Master Plan. A new beacon in the harbor, the Hills provide visitors with the feeling of being immersed in a green oasis, culminating at the top of Outlook Hill with an extraordinary 360-degree panoramic experience of the New York Harbor.
West8 Website – Governors Island
West8 Website – Governors Island, The Hills
Discovery Hill
Public Art / Rachel Whiteread / Cabin
The Guardian – Interview with Rachel Whiteread
Slide Hill
(adapted from Governors Island website)
Located in the rolling parkland on the southern half of Governors Island, Slide Hill offers a variety of slides to delight young visitors and families. Slide Hill features three shorter slides, including a family slide built for two people to ride down at once. Thrill-seekers will get a rush on the fourth slide: a curving, 57 foot-long, three story-high slide—the longest in NYC!
Governors Island Website – Slide Hill
Hammock Grove*
(adapted from Governors Island website)
Hammock Grove is a seven-acre section of the park that opened to the public in 2014. Throughout the grove, visitors will discover 50 red hammocks, offering places to rest while enjoying peace and quiet. Hammock Grove features an experimental urban forest with 1,200 trees comprising over 40 species.
West 8, the park’s landscape architects, prioritized sustainable design with structural elements to mitigate climate change. The grove has been planted high enough to keep the tree roots above flood levels. The designers placed the hammocks among the grove of new trees, so once the trees are tall enough, the hammocks can hang between them. The introduction of plants and trees works to address the rising temperatures of our changing climate.
Five sheep arrived in Spring 2021 to live in Hammock Grove to help control invasive species like phragmites and mugwort, herbaceous plants that can dominate the landscape and stifle other plants’ growth. These sheep—named Flour, Sam, Evening, Chad, and Philip Aries—lived in a shelter that allowed them to move between sections of the landscape to eat the invasive plants. The Trust for Governors Island’s horticultural team cared for the sheep and monitored their progress and effectiveness as a method of controlling invasive plant species.
Governors Island Website – Hammock Grove Sheep
Governors Island Website – Hammock Grove
Liggett Hall and Terrace*
(adapted from Governors Island, Wikipedia, and Urban Archive websites)
The largest building on Governors Island, Liggett Hall was designed by McKim, Mead & White and completed in 1929 to house all 1,375 members of the Army’s 16th Infantry Regiment, affectionately known as “New York’s Own.” The first building ever designed to hold an entire regiment, Liggett Hall is as long as the Chrysler Building is tall. In 1967, Liggett Hall became the Coast Guard’s Training Center.
Governors Island Website – Building 400
Urban Archive Digital Walking Tour of Governors Island
Urban Assembly Harbor School, Main Building
(adapted from Harbor School website)
Offering a maritime-themed academic program, the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School was founded in Brooklyn in 2003 to infuse the standard New York State Education Department curriculum with environmental, water-related topics
In 2010, Harbor School moved to its new home on Governors Island and now admits students from all five boroughs of New York City. Today, Harbor School serves a diverse group of four hundred and thirty-five students, who come from neighborhoods across the city, both public and private middle schools, and whose life experiences and interests bring them to a high school focused on marine science and technology. All current students at Harbor School enroll in traditional New York State Regents-based academic courses and one of six career and technical education (CTE) programs of study. As they prepare for college and train for industry, students cultivate an ethic of environmental stewardship and learn about and work toward protecting, conserving, and restoring the environment.
New York Harbor School Website
Castle Williams
(adapted from National Park Service website)
Castle Williams is a circular defensive fort of red sandstone that was completed in 1811. Designed by the Chief Engineer of the US Army Corps of Engineers, Lt. Col. Jonathan Williams, for whom the fort is named, the castle was one component of a larger defensive system for the inner harbor that included Fort Jay and the South Battery on Governors Island, Castle Clinton at the tip of Manhattan, Fort Gibson on Ellis Island (then Oyster Island), and Fort Wood, which is now the base of the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island (then Bedloe’s Island). This system of forts came to be known as the Second American System of coastal defense and existed to protect New York harbor from British interference with American shipping.
The castle’s usefulness for active defense was short-lived and it was later used as barracks and, in 1903, as a state-of-the-art prison facility. In 1947, extensive renovations were carried out with the wooden catwalks replaced by concrete enclosed walkways. Castle Williams ceased operations as a military prison in 1965 just before the U.S. Army left Governors Island.
When it was completed in 1811, Castle Williams became a model for fort construction across the country. Measuring 200 feet in its outer diameter. with 40-foot-high and 8-foot-thick walls supporting over 100 pieces of artillery, it was a feat of contemporary military engineering. By the Civil War, however, Castle Williams had become mostly obsolete as a military fortress. It was used as a prison for Confederate soldiers and officers during the war and housed nearly 1,000 prisoners at its most crowded. Castle Williams remained a military prison until 1965, when the Army transferred Governors Island to the Coast Guard, who repurposed the Castle for community-related use by the Island’s residents.
Archive.org Guide to Governors Island Castle Williams Entry
Urban Archive Digital Walking Tour of Governors Island
LMCC Art Center at Governors Island*
(adapted from LMCC website)
The Arts Center at Governors Island is an incubator for creative experimentation and community dialogues. Work developed and presented at The Arts Center focuses on sustainability and equity, with current exhibitions featuring the work of internationally renowned artists Meg Webster, Onyedika Chuke, and Muna Malik.
In addition to exhibitions, The Arts Center offers monthly public programs that connect artists and the public with the creative process. The “Take Care” series focuses on art, community, and ecology through hands-on workshops, talks, film screenings, and Open Studios that invite the public behind the scenes with Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s artists-in-residence.
Taco Vista Island Bar and Grill*
Taco Vista is a waterside watering hole that will serve as the “finish line” for this year’s BIG WALK. As part of the closing remarks, poet KC Trommer will read her poem, The Question Under the Question, from her recently published book, We Call Them Beautiful (Diode Editions, 2018). Trommer is the Governors Island poet-in-residence, hosted by Works on Water at the WOWHAUS. WOWHAUS occupies one of the historic homes in Nolan Park, House 5B, where (fun fact) Newbery Medal-winning author Lois Lowry once lived. Below please find an audio file of Trommer reading her poem.
END OF BIG WALK