Staten Island is itself an island of course, but there are some other islands off its coast that are worth noting. (And we’re not talking about that other island, Manhattan.) All three of these islands are abandoned, and two of the three are even man-made.
Shooter’s Island
Shooter’s Island | via Wikimedia
Shooter’s Island is part of the NYC Parks department but has a fascinating history. Shooter’s Island began as a hunting preserve for wild geese during the Colonial era, and was also used as a part of the spy effort during the Revolutionary War, a drop-off spot for messages. It then became a site for shipbuilding, for both industrial and pleasure crafts. Kaiser Wilhelm II’s racing yacht was built here, with President Theodore Roosevelt attending the launch, as well as the schooner yacht Atlantic, which broke the record for a cross-Atlantic sail in 1905.
While the island is not man-made, unlike the two other islands off Staten Island, the Hoffman and Swinburne Islands, it was extended by 30 acres via infill to accommodate the growing cargo shipbuilding industry from 1917 until 1921. The last ship was built here in 1921, after which the island became a ship graveyard. The National Parks Service wrote in 1982 that it was “one of five major graveyards in the Greater New York Harbor.” Today, it’s a bird sanctuary run by the New York City Parks department. Interestingly, it is owned partially by New York State and partially by New Jersey.
Hoffman and Swinburne Islands
Like Ellis Island and North Brother Island, the Hoffman and Swinburne Islands were used for quarantine purposes. The islands were built from landfill in the 1870s. Hoffman Island was used more as a quarantine station for typhus and smallpox and had a concrete barricade in an effort to prevent contagion. Swinburne Island had a hospital for yellow fever and cholera.
With declining immigration and new methods of treating infectious diseases, these quarantine areas became obsolete. Hoffman Island saw new use in 1938 as a merchant marine training facility, which closed after WWII in 1947. In 1966, the islands were purchased by the NYC Parks Department and have become natural preserves. There are no longer any buildings on Hoffman Island (though some docks are still there), but some remain on Swinburne Island.
