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ound we kept lights and radios off but our eyes quickly adjusted to the dim light we could track each other s shadowy profiles in the dark it was only about a mile to hart island but in the calm night hearing only the splash of our paddles and the muffled sounds of traffic from the bronx behind us the trip seemed to last forever finally we pulled the boats up on the beach just as i d remembered it from a decade before there was the wreckage of a large motorboat at the north end of the beach we can hide the boats there r whispered the word was the deed moving as quickly as we could we slotted the boats into gaps of the wreckage and draped tarps over them from just a few feet away they were virtually invisible then we changed into hiking shoes mounted our headlamps and pulled on the ghillie suits which were surprisingly light considering the bulk they were made of fine mesh good for keeping out insects and would provide an extra barrier against the poison ivy r said grew copiously on the northern tip of the island then we climbed up the low hill to the grassy meadow we were officially on hart island the first place we visited was a large white cross set into the hillside we paused for a moment letting the solemnity of the space sink in then we started walking again and soon located a grave off to the side we thought it was the aids baby s but r checked the map and realized we were at the wrong end of the island we rounded the northern tip and looked out on the dark waters of long island sound then we headed south our steps sounded loud we winced with each crunch and crackle on the dry leaves and sticks but the ghillie suits worked as advertised even from a few feet away we were invisible to each other in the gloom it wasn t entirely dark in addition to the moon and starlight there was the electric glow of new york city low on the horizon and when we turned on our infrared headlamps the glow took on a rosy tinge but our lights weren t on when i caught sight of something glowing just behind my right shoulder r i whispered urgently there s a ghost i believe it he said for the rest of the evening i felt the presence and faint glimmer of something someone following behind me we stopped to admire a square white obelisk set on a platform inscribed with a white cross it was the peace monument erected by prisoners and staff in 1948 to commemorate those interred on the island see this account for a brief description we continued on the night swirled with strange gusts of air at one moment it was cool enough to make our skin prickle the next warm as if from an oven opening i ve got chills r whispered me too i replied i couldn t stop thinking about the million and a half people who died alone either unloved or unfound by frantic friends and relatives to lie forever in the soft earth lapped by the waters of long island sound memorial we kept walking soon we came across a clearing dotted with flat metal plates set into the ground it was the abandoned nike missile silos see here here and here r was able to move one of the heavy metal covers and peer down inside i m tempted to go in he whispered r is a rock climber capable of athletic feats i can only dream of still i was glad when he decided against it we continued on down the eastern side of the island as we crunched over broken branches and swished through the tall grass we caught sight of an american flag rippling over a rectangular plot of land lined with white marble on which stood a white obelisk it was the civil war veteran s cemetery the inscription on the obelisk read the remains of these veteran union soldiers and sailors were disinterred on june 9 1941 and reinterred in the cypress hills national cemetery we stood quietly for a moment with bowed heads i don t know what r thought but i was imagining the men who had once been buried here then we continued on doing our best to stay close to the edge of the clearing with forest on our left suddenly we heard something rustle in the woods beside us we froze barely breathing there was a loud thump and then what sounded like footsteps moving rapidly away what was that we asked each other intellectually we knew it had to be an animal of some sort possibly a raccoon r had been told by someone who d worked there that there was a large population of raccoons on the island but still after a bit our heart rates returned to normal and our palms stopped sweating over to the right we could see ruins of old buildings silhouetted dimly against the sky we kept on steering well clear of the operations hub in the center of the island and the ferry terminal beyond that if there were cameras or watchers that s where they d be we continued on and on through what felt like endless stretches of darkened woods bordering grassy meadows and walkways i knew without asking where r was headed he wanted to pay his respects to the grave of the aids baby once we were safely into the southern portion of the island we swung inland to the right up ahead loomed a ruined building windowless we stopped to peer inside r went first holy shit i heard him whisper on the ledge of the open window was a thick stack of documents thicker than the palm of my hand is wide partly destroyed by mold city of yonkers police department 1985 we read r flipped through the pages quickly stopping at one with fingerprints of the dead we looked through the window into the building the floor was completely covered with stacks of documents a few filing cabinets stood drawers open with more documents within what was it why had the documents been abandoned there was no way to know the online sources we d visited said all documents had either been destroyed by fire or removed but here was an entire building open to the elements packed with decaying paper documents we kept going back into the grass and brush r was a few yards ahead of me when i saw him freeze what was that he whispered i just heard something breathe just then some footsteps sounded the trees rustled then silence whatever it had been was gone we continued on until we were nearly at the southern tip of the island ahead of us stretched a row of white square posts each marking the site of dozens perhaps hundreds of graves this is it r said each one had the sc b special child baby notation indicating babies were buried there we moved along the line of graves stopping to take a picture of the very first one we d found the grave of the aids baby but something was wrong wasn t the aids baby supposed to have been buried alone what s over that fence r asked suddenly to our side was a high wire fence half covered in greenery topped with rusting barbed wire as soon as we made out what it was in the pale light we realized what it must be we followed the fence to its end and curved back around so we were on the other side sure enough there was a square white marker all by itself fenced off from the others its location alone told us what we d found sc b1 the first to die of aids then viewed as so contagious that he or she was isolated even in death special child sc baby b 1 we took pictures and i said a silent prayer for sc b1 wherever he or she was and for the parents of the child likely long gone themselves for the frightened prisoners handling what they viewed as the carrier of a highly contagious perfectly lethal disease for all the people touched by this disease those who died and the ones who lost them somehow sc b1 buried alone on hart island encapsulated all of the tragedy and loss and fear of that period we turned to head back feeling obscurely that no matter what else happened our mission here was done there s one more thing i want to see r said there s the remnants of a road and new york city streetlights we went back across the long field where we d heard the breaths and footsteps although it was less than an hour ago it seemed like a different era before baby sc b1 suddenly r froze again look he whispered a deer my eyes straining i finally made out what r was pointing at the silhouette of a deer at the end of the meadow against the twinkling lights of city island that must have been what caused the breathing and the footsteps and the crashing through the underbrush we later learned that deer had populated the island for at least 200 years at one point it was a privately owned game preserve the deer could possibly have been a native inhabitant of the island or possibly it swam over now that we d confirmed there were large animals on the island some of the mystery left it almost could have been an ordinary walk on an ordinary meadow on a late summer night but not for long after a few minutes the road appeared in front of us concrete running between two abandoned buildings and there just as r had said was a new york city streetlight just beyond it to the right was a beautiful building with double stairways climbing up to an impressive doorway just opposite it across the road to the left was a dark building looming with gothic curves against the sky it was a church r loped over to inspect it the door was partly ajar and he slipped inside a second later he poked his head out come inside it s worth it he whispered i stepped in walking gingerly over the uneven floor it was indeed a church a massive ruined structure the roof was largely intact and there was a beautiful strangely undamaged rose window at the far end we later found out it was a catholic church built in 1932 a fascinating religious history of hart island and other components of the prison system was written by episcopal archivist wayne kempton in 2006 you can google it to find a downloadable pdf catholic church from inside we lingered for a while in the church perhaps too long even in disuse its soaring arches and echoing interior conveyed a sense of peaceful melancholy but finally the skies outside the windows had lightened too much to ignore and we regretfully took our leave by then we were confident we d seen most of what hart island had to offer we were wrong as we continued through the compound of ruined buildings we came up to a large square hole about 20 feet on each side rimmed with wood it s an open grave r whispered we looked closer there were pallets and what might have been simple wooden coffins beneath we knew that bodies were stacked 3 deep in each plot this one looked to be about halfway full after a moment r moved to continue on wait i whispered following an inner compulsion i bowed my head and said an our father then i made the sign of the cross over the open grave wanting to show these unknown people in death the respect that had been denied them in life then we turned and continued on the walk back seemed much faster than the walk down in fact we overshot our landing spot and went up to the tip of the island again after we realized our mistake we trotted down the hill that led to the white cross embedded in the hillside that we d seen when we first started out the sky was definitely lighter and there was a tinge of rose along the eastern horizon neither of us wanted to leave we sat down and tried to pick out the branches and leaves that had accumulated in our fur but it was a hopeless task we d done a lot more bushwhacking than the suits were designed for and our artificial foliage was now augmented permanently with the organic kind after a bit r lay down on the grass for a micro nap foliage and all i sat and watched the sky brighten slowly the stars dimming imperceptibly out finally when it was too bright to risk staying any longer i told r we needed to go a few minutes later we were back in the boats safely pushed off from shore for the first time in several hours we were no longer afraid of discovery from here on out we were just innocent paddlers i was relieved but also sad as the dark waters of the sound lapped our boats part of me wanted to stay on hart island with the graves and the ruins and the silence but it was time to rejoin the world of the living we paddled back slowly looking back over our shoulders often to catch the sunrise we passed a few fishing boats out from city island a sailboat floated past we were a few yards offshore when the rising sun broke over hart island reflecting off the buildings on city island we d done it something that very few living people can lay claim to have done spent a night on hart island departing at dawn note if you re inspired by this imaginary experience to try a real expedition to hart island i d recommend against it for one thing construction will be underway to renovate and shore up the island and did i mention it s extremely illegal cell phones cameras and the press are banned from the island getting caught on hart island is considered trespassing on prison property and carries a sentence of 2 years in prison good sources for more information about hart island are here melinda hunt an artist who started photographing the toppled grave markers in the early 1990s started amassing a database that is considered more complete than official records made through a freedom of information act request she has also published a book called hart island and produced a film called hart island an american cemetery these and the database all can be found at the hart island project website a recent but pre covid nyt article fishermen at dawn 8 comments posted in life nature new york city tagged hart island long island sound sc b1 1985 copyright wind against current by vladimir brezina and johna till johnson is licensed under a creative commons attribution noncommercial noderivs 3 0 unported license search search for authors vladimir brezina rip kayaked the waters around new york for more than 15 years in his red feathercraft folding kayak he was originally from the former czechoslovakia and lived in the u k and california before settling down in new york he was a neuroscientist at the mount sinai school of medicine in new york city he died in 2016 johna till johnson is a kayaker and technology researcher at nemertes research she s an erstwhile engineer particle physicist and science fiction writer she was born in california and has lived in italy norway hawaii and a few other places she currently resides in new york city our links johna s technology research vlad s photos vlad s scientific research recent posts a meditation on gratitude november 26 2025 the first leg june 6 2023 looks like they made it june 5 2023 more scenes from the northcountry may 30 2023 r2ak scenes from the northern lands may 29 2023 halfway there may 29 2023 and they re off may 28 2023 team trimoron heads west may 26 2023 sheltering at sea part 3 staten island to atlantic city june 28 2021 sheltering at sea part 2 escape from new york june 14 2021 sheltering at sea part 1 taking the leap june 7 2021 night on hart island may 30 2021 happy birthday vlad june 1 2020 solo trip to the yellow submarine may 26 2020 sail and sky composition may 20 2020 recent comments johna till johnson on where we like to land on sandy canada to key west p on a b...