This iconic gantry structure is easy to spot. It is the first thing I saw coming over from Wall Street that made me realize I had truly left Manhattan.
The buildings themselves are perhaps the most defining physical and cultural assets of Governor’s Island. The Nolan Park dwellings have lived multiple lives over the course of the last century and more: housing arts organizations, fellows, ferry captains, coast guard families, operations crew (and some might say, ghosts). They are containers for activation!
These chairs are very comfortable, but they are quite bulky. They move all around the island. They are often the first objects to be appropriated by tourists on weekends.
Comes with 2 chairs, painterly patch of grass, and a firefly.
Rain or shine, ferries connect the island to the rest of the city. Shown here is the NYC Ferry that departs from Yankee Pier to Brooklyn, while the Governors Island ferry departs from Soissons Landing to Wall Street. Three cheers for the ferry operators!
On a largely car-free island, golf carts are the mode of transport par excellence for island staff . This one is dedicated to Tristan who drove over to us in the dark to check on us during a power cut!
At least once every hour, on weekdays and weekends, helicopters would fly overhead across the island with their noisy choppers. They were mostly commerical vehicles flying tourists from the Wall Street helipad, but on occasion they were military helicopters.
NB: The orange color is for graphic effect (they are usually black).
Jan 01 ’46
These enigmatically domed concrete (oystercrete?) structures look like deployable oyster habitats for underwater rehabilitation. I happened upon a cluster of them near Soissons Landing, and we got a little tour of various prototypes at the oyster pile. If you want to know how it works you should ask our neighbors at the Billion Oyster Project.
The trees of Governor’s island provide shade, environmental benefits, and history. We were told that the oldest tree lives in Nolan Park. Governor’s Island was originally referred to by the Lenape as Paggank ("nut island"), for its abundance of oak, hickory, and chestnut trees. In the summer, some trees shed their bark, leaving dry strips all over the ground.
Parked on the side of the athletic field is a portable hydration station, essentially a six-tap water fountain hooked up to a fire hydrant. While many buildings do not have a water main connection, hydrants provide potable water and can be tapped into as micro resources.
This is a flyer showing a local coalition’s resistance to proposed new development on Governor’s Island. Construction for a climate center and new school are already underway, leaving long-term custodians and nonprofits to wonder what the island will look and feel like in a matter of years.
Sometime in June, an archaeologist found a cannonball during a construction dig. Part of the island was cordoned off from the public and a building was evacuated, so that the errant ordinance could be tested for the presence of unexploded gunpowder. How many more unexploded ordinances are buried beneath this island’s layered military history?
On July 19th, a public screening of the 2026 World Cup final match was held at the Parade Ground, supported by the NYC Mayor’s Offie as the “People’s Final.” For a few hours, crowds gathered under the sun to watch, kids kicked balls to each other, and large soccer inflatables roamed the lawn.
Amanda’s ant chairs await your participation in the future of democracy! Find this conversational format arranged in different locations around the island.