Last weekend, Governor's Island was host to the annual Civil War Weekend—historians portraying various units from the Civil War (including Confederate prisoners, music boys, laundresses, and officer's wives) gave participants a glimpse of what life was like on the island during the bloodiest conflict in America's history. From 1783 through 1966, the island was used as an army post, and during the Civil War it held Confederate prisoners.
Go to the link to see photographs.
Below is a Wikipedia article on Governor's Island:
Governors Island is a 172 acres (70 ha) island in Upper New York Bay, approximately one-half mile (1 km) from the southern tip of Manhattan Island and separated from Brooklyn by Buttermilk Channel. It is legally part of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Physically, the island changed greatly during the early 20th century. Using rocks and dirt from the excavations for the Lexington Avenue subway, the Army Corps of Engineers supervised the deposit of 4,787,000 cubic yards of fill on the south side of Governors Island, adding 103 acres (42 ha) of flat, treeless land by 1912 and bringing the total acreage of the island to 172.
The Dutch explorer Adriaen Block named the uninhabited island "Noten Eylant", meaning 'nut island', in 1611, doubtless after the island's plentiful hickory, oak, and chestnut trees; This became "Nutten Island" in pidgin English. Upon arrival of the first Dutch colonists to New Netherland, a fortification was erected on the island in 1624. After construction of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island in 1625, Native Americans of the New York Tri-State region started to use the island as their launching pad for trade with the Manhattan settlers and referred to the island as "Paggank", a translation. The island's current name, made official in 1784, stems from British colonial times when the colonial assembly reserved the island for the exclusive use of New York's royal governors.
Defensive works were raised on the island in 1776 by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War, and fired upon British ships before they were taken. From 1783 to 1966, the island was a United States Army post. From 1966 to 1996 the island served as a major United States Coast Guard installation.
On January 19, 2001, Fort Jay and Castle Williams, two of the island's three historical fortifications were proclaimed a National Monument. On January 31, 2003, 150 acres of the island was transferred to the State of New York for a nominal fee of $1. The remaining (22 acres or 9 ha) was transferred to the United States Department of the Interior as the Governors Island National Monument, administered by the National Park Service.
The 150 acre portion of the island not included in the National Monument is administered by The Trust for Governors Island, an entity of the City of New York and the successor of the joint city/state established redevelopment entity, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation. The transfer included deed restrictions which prohibit permanent housing or casinos on the island.
On May 24, 2012, Mayor Michael Bloomberg broke ground on the new park and public spaces designed by the landscape design firm West 8, along with announcing the opening of the rehabilitated Castle Williams.
The national historic landmark district, approximately 92 acres (37 ha) of the northern half of the island, is open to the public for several months in the summer and early fall. Additionally the circumferential drive around the island is also open to the public. The island is accessed by free ferries from Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Governors Island Alliance
Since the decision by the United States Coast Guard to vacate the 172-acre (0.70 km2) Island in 1995, the Governors Island Alliance has worked collaboratively and successfully to help secure its return to New York and to ensure that the public interest determine its reuse. The Alliance and its 50 member organizations led a campaign to see Governors Island returned to New York for public purposes, a mandate embodied in GIPEC's 2003 charter to create "an educational, recreational, and cultural center that will offer a broad range of public uses", create about 90 acres (360,000 m2) of parks and public spaces, and abide by design restrictions in the National Landmark Historic District.
The Governors Island Alliance is working with its many partners to make these commitments a reality, and engage the public in their planning. The Alliance publishes a monthly electronic newsletter that provides the latest information on Island happenings. Equally important, the Alliance is working to enliven the Island with a variety of recreation and arts programs so that visitors can enjoy this harbor destination.
Tolerance Park Alliance
The Alliance is a coalition of organizations and individuals working to celebrate the Island's unique history as the place on which the New World’s first lawful expression of religious tolerance as an individual right took place in 1624. It aims to create an unforgettable living museum-park-to-tolerance as a destination for all Americans on 30% of the Island, and ensure a fitting and sustainable reuse of New York State’s birthplace as “The Island at the Center of the New World.” Thus revealed as Liberty Island’s thematic complement, Governors Island serves as primary symbol in New York harbor and beacon to humanity whereas its historic message – the Lifeblood of American Liberty – endures for future generations.Immediately following the Coast Guard’s departure from the Island in 1998, the Alliance’s Foundation collaborated with First Lady Hillary Clinton, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger and American Ambassador to the Netherlands Cynthia Schneider in advancing the proposed Education and Preservation Project. The goal was to preserve the $1 State and City purchase option and to avoid the Island’s public auction past the Congressional legal deadline of September 2001. Based on the legal precedent of the 1785 Land Act, the Foundation succeeded in getting the White House to dedicate the Island to “education” on April 1, 2002. It was the basis for the American people’s surrender of the island’s “economic value” to the State and the City. Sixty-plus acres were set aside as “park” land prior to conveying the Island to the State for one dollar on February 1, 2003.
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