There's also the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, a historic Episcopal church built in 1889, and the recently restored lighthouse from 1872, also designed by Renwick. For years, the island was known as Blackwell's Island, and later Welfare Island. Up north, there is Blackwell House, the 1796 farmhouse named for the family that once farmed the island. You can take island's free bus, as well, if your feet are tired. The Roosevelt Island Tramway is a four-minute ride and offers great views of the island and surrounding area. It opened in 1976 and for 13 years, it was the only direct link from the island to Manhattan (the subway didn't arrive until 1989). Of course, no trip to the island would be complete without a ride on the Roosevelt Island Tramway. It features the Anything At All restaurant and the Panorama Room rooftop bar and lounge 18 stories above, with some amazing views of the city. The Cornell Tech Campus, a complex of new buildings which includes a cafe that is open to the public for a quick bite and a drink or a bathroom break, is also on the island.Īdditionally, there is the Graduate Hotel, which opened last year. There's a long history of good things that came from work that was done on this island and people whose lives were saved or lives were changed," Berdy said. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, and another tribute to the man the island is named for, the FDR Hope Memorial.īerdy, who who has lived on the island for 45 years, says there is plenty of history to soak up while visiting. The Strecker Memorial Laboratory is also there, restored in the 1990s and used as a power conversion station for the subway lines that run underneath the island.ĭon't forget to check out the cat sanctuary on your way to the Franklin D. On the southern tip in Southpoint Park, visitors can find the ruins of the Smallpox Hospital designed by James Renwick, the same person who designed St. The Octagon, once the city's mental health hospital, is now part of an apartment complex. The island has vestiges of landmark buildings. Nelson Rockefeller made an agreement that the island will be leased to the state of New York for 99 years and that gave the state permission to develop this new community," said Judith Berdy, the President of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society. The island has a long history as farmland, to a location for city hospitals and a penitentiary, to a planned residential community.
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