348 Comments for Hart Island

Yeah it's pretty heavy stuff; I was aware of stillborns being interred on the island, but did not know specifically where those plots were, thanks for clarifying.

Motts, I realize this is a 3 year old photo, but I'm not sure everybody realizes the gravity of it: what you're looking at is every stillborn infant consigned to burial by the city of NY from 2002-2008. Plots B-62 through B-68 (the B is for "babies"), dug directly between the wings of the old Phoenix Program building. ~1000 per plot (a.k.a trench), stacked five high and twenty deep in little unpainted pinewood shoeboxes. The children are watched over by the fading mural of the phoenix on the ruined dormitory front, still soaring from the ashes despite having long been forgotten and left to decay.

They're only up to Plot B-64 in this photo; on May 16, 2008, the last 29 (of 994) stillborn babies were buried in B-64 and it was capped with three feet of earth. An identical trench was dug next to it (closer to the window in this photo). The process has repeated 4 additional times since then, leaving the current plot (B-68) directly under the window.

You're gonna carry that weight.

The religious backgrounds of many of these people are not known, and it is forbidden to be cremated in certain sects (such as Islam and Orthodox Judaism). Sometimes the people buried here are found only after their death, and so their remains are exhumed and transported to an appropriate place for services / burial.

Why aren't the corpses cremated?

Yes, you can click the facebook icon under the title of the photo.

I would like to copy some of your photographs onto my Facebook page. Is this possible?

I really like these place and i would like 2 see if is hunted is u are interested please call me 413-846-0426 or email me adrianodanielzina@gmail.com...

Is these place hunted??

Looking at 2014 satellite photography, it looks like the Phoenix House is still standing, although all the land around it has been cleared for new graves.

Sure, the photo is from the original asylum building, labeled as the "Shoe/Toy Factory" on the Dept. of Corrections map. I believe there were two stairwells on both sides of the symmetrical building, but I cannot recall which exact stairwell this photo was taken in.

Was this house demolished?

Hello, I'm an architecture student at CCNY and I'm doing a project of the Island. Can you tell me in which building did you took this picture? And where? You can find the map on google or in this page: http://urbanomnibus.ne...itemap-1_resize1.jpg

I don't have the plans and I'm trying to figure out on my own what is each space. Thank you!

Love the website. It"s great from a photography stand point, and I love seeing all the buildings I wish I could visit myself.

The adds on this site are a bizzare compliment to the images and text, for example: Ketamine for Depression and Bioidentical, Anti-Aging Executive Physicals. The sort of treatments and therapies you would expect to find practiced on Hart Island in its heydey. What the hell does "bioidentical" mean? And treating depression with a cat tranquilizer? What mountebank thought that up? Depression is best treated as it was always treated on Hart, with beatings and ice cold enemas!

This is an absolutely gorgeous capture. Looks like it is out of a dream.