Hart Island

This place is on private property. Listing for informational purposes only. Please do not visit without express permission from the land owner. Hart Island, sometimes referred to as Hart's Island, is a small island in New York City at the western end of Long Island Sound. It is approximately a mile long and one quarter of a mile wide and is located to the northeast of City Island in the Pelham Islands group. The island is the easternmost part of the borough of the Bronx. The island has been used as a Union Civil War prison camp, a lunatic asylum, a tuberculosis sanatorium, potter's field, and a boys' reformatory. Hart Island and the pier on Fordham Street on City Island are restricted areas. The New York City Department of Correction schedules individual visits with family members who can show that a relative is buried on Hart Island. New York City currently offers no provisions for individuals wanting to visit Hart Island without contacting the prison system. Press are not allowed access. Since 1994, The Hart Island Project has independently assisted families in obtaining copies of public burial records. The New York City Department Of Correction offered one guided tour of the island in 2000 at local residents' requests. Visitors were allowed to see the outside of the missile silos and peace monument nearby and saw the ruined buildings, some dating back to the 1880s. An ecumenical group named the Interfaith Friends of Potter's Field has intermittently conducted memorial services on the island