A fascinating video takes viewers on a trip to one of New York’s little-known forbidden islands, which has been left to slowly decay.
YouTube creator Two Feet Outdoors kayaked to North Brother Island, which is situated in the Hell Gate, a treacherous section of the East River between The Bronx and Riker’s Island.
After getting out of his vessel, he goes on shore to explore the outcrop’s interior, with many redbrick buildings left from its past as a quarantine station and temporary home for WWII veterans.
As he makes out a path, he comments on how overgrown it is and how there is ‘so much ivy everywhere.’
He adds: ‘There is no easy way to explore this island and these buildings. It’s a straight up bushwhack just about the entire time.’
YouTube creator Two Feet Outdoors kayaked to North Brother Island, which is situated in the Hell Gate, a treacherous section of the East River between The Bronx and Riker’s Island
After getting out of his vessel, he goes on shore to explore the outcrop’s interior, with many redbrick building left from its past as a quarantine station
Derelict buildings are clearly visible from the shoreline, and as the content creator nears them, he says they look especially ‘creepy’ looming through the trees.
The video shows the urban explorer entering some the buildings, with their innards in a sorry state.
Paint can be seen peeling from the walls, windows smashed and ceiling rafters falling in.
At one point, the camera pans around to show what appears to be an old auditorium with rows of rotting seats and a dilapidated stage, while another shot peers inside a toilet with the words ‘Teachers Men’ still visible on the door.
The cameraman also decides to venture into a basement in one of the buildings but he finds the subterranean space completely flooded.
North Brother Island has been closed to the public for more than 60 years.
Opened as a quarantine center in 1885, it was once home to hundreds of patients including the notorious ‘Typhoid Mary’ – the first healthy carrier of any disease ever to be identified – who spent years confined in its bleak woods.
As he makes out a path, he comments on how overgrown it is and how there is ‘ so much ivy everywhere’
‘There is no easy way to explore this island and these buildings. It’s a straight up bushwhack just about the entire time’
One shot peers inside a toilet with the words ‘Teachers Men’ still visible on the door
Its first inhabitants were those unfortunate patients with communicable diseases such as smallpox, tuberculosis, scarlet fever and leprosy, who were forcibly removed from the city’s teeming streets and sent to live away the rest of their lives on the bleak little island, located just 350 yards away from the South Bronx.
With the dawn of the 20th century, city authorities made a desperate attempt to clean up North Brother with better buildings and improved care.
The island was mainly a home for tuberculosis patients – and for those suffering from venereal disease.
In 1942, it closed for the first time before being used to house WWII veterans who were studying in the city.
But this idea was quickly abandoned.
In 1952, it underwent its final transformation, hosting an experimental program to treat juvenile drug addicts.
When this, too, failed, the North Brother was left to the ravages of time, and since 1963 it has been abandoned and largely forgotten about.
To date, Two Feet Outdoors’ video tour of North Brother Island has been watched more than 20,000 times with many viewers thanking him for sharing his adventure
Protected birds are its only inhabitants and the waters around the island are patrolled by armed coastguards
In regards to visiting the island, a permit must be secured in advance
Protected birds are now its only inhabitants and the waters around the island are patrolled by armed coastguards who ensure the sanctity of the former quarantine zone is never violated.
In regards to visiting the island, a permit must be secured in advance.
NYC Parks notes: ‘We do not visit and do not permit visits to the island between March 21 and September 21, due to shorebird breeding season.
‘The best time to visit North Brother Island is during the fall, before winter weather begins and conditions are challenging.’
To date, Two Feet Outdoors’ video tour of North Brother Island has been watched more than 20,000 times, with many viewers thanking him for sharing his adventure.
One viewer wrote: ‘That building with the flooded basement can EASILY be the site of a horror movie.’
While another commenter noted: ‘We live in NYC and we often take the ferry and we wonder about that island as we whisk by. Careful with the currents.’
