North Brother Island, NYC

Through our journey of the world’s greatest unknown places, we’ve traveled from Australia to the Middle East, China to Jamaica, and all places in between.  We’ve looked at pink lakes on tiny islands in the middle of the sea, and rainbow mountains located a full day’s worth of travel from the nearest town.  However, not all unknown secrets are so hidden.  Sometimes, we just need to look a little closer, and we can find these special places right in the middle of a place we are all well familiar with.

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Smack dab between the Bronx and Manhattan lies the abandoned North Brother Island.  Although it lies in the heart of the biggest city in one of the most powerful countries in the world, few people are aware of its existence, let alone its dramatic past.

Until 1885, North Brother Island remained untouched, however in this year, smallpox broke out in New York City.  Taking advantage of its isolated position within the city, they decided to build the Riverside Hospital on the island to quarantine the victims of smallpox.  As the years went on, Riverside Hospital was eventually expanded to treat patients with all types of dangerous, contagious diseases, however their success rate was unfortunately low.  Patients having taken the ferry to the island were very unlikely to ever make the return trip, and the island saw the death of thousands of people.

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Perhaps the most famous to set foot on North Brother Island is the infamous Typhoid Mary.  At age 15, Mary Mallon emigrated to the United States from Ireland.  She worked as a cook for the affluent and although she was aware, she was actually an asymptomatic carrier of the deadly typhoid fever.  Through her cooking, she ended up infecting 53 individuals, three of whom died, and she was eventually taken into custody and quarantined on North Brother Island for three years. After promising a judge to never work as a cook again, she was released, however Mary didn’t keep her promise.  In 1915, an outbreak of typhoid fever infecting 25 individuals and killing two more at Manhattan’s Sloane Maternity Hospital was linked back to their cook Mary Brown, who was actually Mary Mallon working under an alias.  Mary was immediately taken into custody and was forcefully imprisoned on the island until her death, an grueling 26 years later.

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Eventually, better hospitals with advanced treatments caused Riverside Hospital to become obsolete.  In the 1940s, the island was converted into a large housing center for war veterans and their families.  However, by 1951, most families had moved off the island because of the inconvenience of having to take a ferry between their home and the city.  For the next ten years, the island would serve as a rehabilitation center for heroine addicts, but even that came to a close in 1963, when the city deemed the treatment center was too expensive and impractical.  Today, the island stands overrun by trees and vines sprouting through the abandoned cities.  Visitors are banned by the city from visiting the island for safety concerns, however the city hopes to eventually open up the island for tours to allow New Yorkers a small insight into their city’s past.

3 thoughts on “North Brother Island, NYC

  1. This blog is always one of my favorites. Eac post you provide a cool unknown place that makes me want to travel their tomorrow.

  2. Really interesting story, I have never heard of Typhoid Mary. The island probably looks really creepy today with all the vines and trees overrunning the abandoned buildings, I sure won’t be going there anytime soon!

  3. This seems really cool! I would love to go to this island and explore the deserted area. I’ve also never heard the story of Typhoid Mary and I thought that was super interesting. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

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