Governors Island opens for 2009 with polo, free bikes
Governors Island today opens for the 2009 season, with a family festival, bike rentals, a new picnic area facing the Statue of Liberty and a polo match featuring Prince Harry of England.
The short ferry ride to the island from Lower Manhattan remain free this year.
The Water Taxi Beach will be built on the north side of Governors Island, facing Lower Manhattan. Currently a parking lot, it’s located next to the main ferry landing in spot that last year hosted one of Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls. (Like at the Brooklyn Bridge, trees here were damaged by the salty waterfall, but are expected to recover, an NPS official said.)
On Friday, NewYorkology got a preview tour of the island with rangers from the National Park Service, which operates the historic portion of the island.
Starting today, Governors Island is open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. In addition, the rangers lead free tours on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but on those days you’re not allowed to roam the island, except as part of the 1.5-mile ranger tour.
Fridays through Sundays, when the full island is open, rangers will be at some locations to explain the history of the old fortifications. You can also pick up a free do-it-yourself walking tour brochure at the ferry terminal in Manhattan.
Castle Williams, the round, red fortification easily seen from the Staten Island Ferry, was built from 1807 to 1811 and is considered the first purely American-designed fort, as most earlier ones on U.S. soil used a starred-French design. Its soft, red sandstone came from Newark.
Castle Williams is also a new recipient of about $5 million of stimulus funds in the U.S. Economic Recovery Plan, Mindi Rambo, an NPS assistant public affairs officer, told NewYorkology.
The money will be used to stabilize the building, with a goal of allowing the public into its prison cells for enlisted men during the Civil War. “While nobody likes a recession, it’s nice to get the money for a desperately needed project,” Rambo said.
Each unsanitary cell held 30 to 60 enlisted prisoners, although officers were locked up in better conditions at Fort Jay in the magazine.
Fort Jay is situated on the highest point of the island, and is currently undergoing its own stabilization and repair work, including asbestos removal.
New to its courtyard are several small chestnut trees, planted with the help of the American Chestnut Foundation in an effort to revive the trees, which were once known as the redwoods of the East Coast. A fungus felled 99.9 percent of the trees in the United States, but these new ones are the first replanted in New York.
In addition to the historical buildings, Governors Island is home to a lot of open green space.
Nolan Park is the central green area in the middle of the former residential area, with the yellow houses (built from 1854 to 1902,) now used to display art. The Admiral’s House is also here, famous in part as the location where President Reagan in 1988 met up with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, whose Perestroika politics were still viewed skeptically in the West.
The green space on the island continues to grow, as most of the non-historic buildings are coming down. Signs have been erected throughout the island to explain what’s missing and why. Near the “downtown” area, a Super 8 motel was leveled last year and replaced with grass.
The historic buildings will remain, including the Liggett Hall barracks, the McKim, Mead, and White-designed building. (During Open House NY 2008, Liggett’s gym and a few other off-limits buildings were open for the weekend.)
Behind Leggett and near the polo grounds sits the “early-bird monument” commemorating the first over-water flight, made from Governors Island toward the Statue of Liberty. The pilot of the plane (which had a canoe underneath, just in case) was Wilbur Wright.
The ranger tour doesn’t cover the south side of the island, which was not actually part of the original island. It was made with Manhattan landfill from the construction of the subway along the Lexington line. The south side is operated by the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, which is responsible for the new picnic area, the Oyster Discovery Center and many other attractions. Access to the GIPEC portion of the island is also free.
