Everyone has heard of New York. How many songs have been written about New York? How many movies take place in New York? It’s a lot, I know. So how many people have heard of Hart Island? The amount of hypothetical hands that are raised goes down. Hart Island has been depicted in a very small amount of articles, movies, and books, and even the most popular movie that Hart Island has been shown in, “Don’t Say a Word”, takes place in Canada, in a fake Hart Island. Hart Island is New York’s Potter’s Field. The actual definition of a Potter’s Field is “a public burial place for paupers, unknown persons, and criminals” (Merriam-Webster). The meaning of that is that this type of cemetery is where poor people, unidentified people, and so on are laid to rest once it is clear that no one is going to be able to take them. Hart Island, New York’s potter’s field, is the largest publically financed cemetery in the world, housing the bodies of about three quarters of a million people since 1869 (Hart Island Project). Hart Island has been considered haunted and it has been, informally, named “The Loneliest Place on Earth”. Before it was a potter’s field it was where we housed prisoners of war during the civil war. It was also housing and isolation for victims of the yellow fever, it was a reformatory for young delinquent boys, it was a “Lunatic Asylum” for women , it was home to a NIKE missile base, and it houses an absolutely beautiful chapel. You can even find some of the original bleachers from Ebbet’s Field here. Considering all of the amazing history that Hart Island holds, you would expect it to be researched, to be toured, and to be experienced. However, it is a federal crime to enter Hart Island without permission from the New York Department of Correction. Even with this permission; which is limited to every third Thursday of the month; the visits are only for people seeking the records of their loved ones who may be buried on the island, and even then they are only allowed to go to a small gazebo near the ferry dock. The amount of history that is being unacknowledged on this island is horrendous, specifically the asylum. The history of psychotherapy is so incredible, in some ways borderline horrifying, and can tell us so much about psychotherapy today. This one building holds so many learning opportunities for psych majors and history majors alike.

The Blackwell Island Insane Asylum can be found on what is now called Roosevelt Island. Though abandoned now, the Blackwell Island Insane Asylum was running around the same time as the Pavilion Building, which opened in 1885, the woman’s only “Lunatic Asylum” on Hart Island. During this time, “mentally disturbed men were considered insane, whereas women of similar afflictions garnered the title of lunatic––thus, the Hart’s Island Lunatic Asylum.” (Untapped Cities) Around 1892, the Blackwell asylum became over crowded to the point where action needed to be taken, so some women from that asylum were moved to the Hart Island asylum, which was actually a branch of the Blackwell asylum. There is not much information out there on the Hart Island Pavilion building, regarding their practices and guidelines. This could be because, for one, because the Humanitarian Movement came to the United States in the early 1800s. This movement brought something called “Moral Management” into our mental facilities; Moral Management focused treatment on a patient’s social, individual, and occupational needs.

So why is Hart Island closed to the public? Well the New York Department of Correction says, “Hart Island is open to the public. The Department provides limited access to an area set aside for reflection and facilitates visits by community groups and others seeking to honor the memory of those who are interred on the island.” (nyc.gov) However, what the website doesn’t say is that “limited access” means the island only allows visits every third Thursday of the month, and the “area set aside for reflection” is a small gazebo right off the dock.
I can understand keeping, at least, the potter’s field portion of the island closed off, as respect to the bodies laid to rest there, however the island has so much more to offer. There is so much history that is being hidden on Hart Island, and this history offers so much to be learned. To learn more about Hart Island you can visit the Hart Island Projects website.