New York City's Hart Island: A Cemetery of Strangers

by Michael T. Keene

Just off the coast of the Bronx in Long Island Sound sits Hart Island, where more than one million bodies are buried in unmarked graves. Beginning as a Civil War prison and training site and later a psychiatric hospital, the location became the repository for New York City's unclaimed dead. The island's mass graves are a microcosm of New York history, from the 1822 burial crisis to casualties of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and victims of the AIDS epidemic. Important artists who died in poverty have been discovered, including Disney star Bobby Driscol and playwright Leo Birinski. Author Michael T. Keene reveals the history of New York's potter's field and the stories of some of its lost souls.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, New York, Historical

160 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 14, 2019

About the author

Author, film producer, financial advisor, folklorist, hockey puck (not necessarily in that order)

Reviews

[Gabriela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mega wciągająca książka o wyspie zapomnianych pełna zbiorowych mogił bezdomnych, osób chorych na AIDS ale i tych,którzy oddali swe ciała w celach naukowych i wbrew ich woli zostali tam pochowani. Na wyspie nie ma odwiedzin nie ma uroczystości pogrzebowych oraz tabliczek upamiętniających. Poruszająca historia napisana przez historyka,który opisuje historię tego miejsca ale i zapoznaje czytelnika z wybranymi osobami,których ciała się tam znajdują. Oddaje im w ten sposób cześć.

[wellreadtraveler · Rating 5 out of 5]

New York City’s Hart Island came to my attention from an email I received. You know the one….you read that so you might like this kind of email. Why yes internet, I would like this, thank you for always knowing me so well! I love New York and all its history, the constant activity of people, the food, the bookstores.. (So many good bookstores!) I also love reading fiction books based in New York, they make me feel nostalgic! Fiona Davis is one of my favorite New York residents who takes historic buildings and writes bestselling novels. After reading her books I always find myself researching the buildings in her stories. Her newest book is The Lions of Fifth Avenue and I was thrilled to learn that the superintendent of the New York Public Library use to live at the library in his own apartment. Wouldn’t that be a book lovers dream? I’ve become very interested in nonfiction and memoirs and learned so much about Hart Island, a place I had never heard of but will never forget.
Hart Island is just off the coast of Long Island and has a very secretive and heartbreaking history. The Island was essentially a dumping ground for unclaimed bodies. It started as a Civil War prison and training site, then a psychiatric hospital, and then a final resting spot for unknown bodies. Death from the war, yellow fever, smallpox, a burial ground for the African American community, Aids victims, and patients from Bellevue just to name a few. The manner in which they were buried was disturbing, thrown out no better than a bag of trash. What I found so interesting was the many bodies that have been left buried under famous landmarks. Sadly we all know many 9/11 victims bodies were never recovered, but did you know bodies are buried deep in Madison Square Park, Washington Square Park, James J. Walker Park, and even Central Park! Another thing that struck me, and felt very timely, was the chapters about disease that caused the quarantine of New York and surrounding cities. Quarantine in 1795, Wow.
Such an informative book that any resident of New York or even tourists like me would enjoy.

[Kurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

For nearly a century and a half, Hart Island has been the final destination for New York’s destitute and departed. I first heard of Hart Island while reading Tim Page’s marvelous biography of Dawn Powell. I was fascinated that someone who had some notoriety could still end up in a potter’s field (which I never knew was a biblical reference—land bought using Judas’ blood money to bury the poor once belonged to a potter). Unfortunately, my image of the island remains gauzy even after reading this book. This is not entirely the author’s fault. For most of it’s history, the island has been under the control of either the military or the New York prison system—neither organization has been eager to share information. Even visiting the island was virtually impossible until more recent times—and those visits mostly limited to families of the deceased residing there. The book jumps around in a seemingly random manner which doesn’t help—making the book feel like a series of articles strung together. To compensate for a lack of in-depth information about the island, the book is full of the history of New York—the famous, the infamous, the indigent and the dead. Some of it is fascinating (so much of New York’s expensive real estate sits upon old cemeteries) some of it less so. Apparently over a million have been buried there but throughout the book confusing references are made to other numbers or to simply not knowing a number at all. This also contributes to that feeling of articles strung together. Maybe it’s my natural empathy, but reading this did make me feel the weight of the island. Layer upon layer of stories does partly impress the magnitude of the lives erased from memory upon the reader but that weight alone does not tell the whole story. I wish I knew more.

[Margie Adkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not What I Expected

I was disappointed to find that this book doesn’t spend much time on the history of the island. It is mostly biographies of people buried there and stories of epidemics that killed many people at a time.

[Linda Callahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tough read, but worth it.

While it may be tough to read about the burials at New York City’s Hart Island, it made me pause and think about the injustices placed on the less fortunate in life and death. The author doesn’t stop there. He gives a view into what the future may hold.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the history of Hart Island, New York City, & the treatment of the dead in the U.S.

[Charlene McGrew]

Interesting

This is something I didn't realize had been happening. It is very sad that as a supposed civilization that we continue to act barbarian.

[Tanya Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting data points, but the book wandered a bit.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

More than Hart island

I never realized potters field consisted in many landmarks in Manhattan in the early1800's
I worked there downtown Manhattan, glad I had no idea

[Dresden Savastano · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book sheds light on the indignity with which NYC has been treating its departed poor for centuries. The writing is often insipid, but the topic is important.

[MKF · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting but it dragged and sometimes bored me. It also needed a lot of editing for many of the mistakes in the book.