Unforgotten Minute: Hart Island

Transferring Control and Enabling Access to a Mass Burial Ground in the Bronx.

"Access can inspire new ways to interact with our city, and explore NYC’s only public burial ground"

Hart Island was originally purchased back in 1868 to serve as the public burial ground for New York City.  Owned and operated by the Department of Correction for over 150 years, Hart Island is the final resting place for over one-million New Yorkers. Today, Hart Island is operated by the NYC Parks Department and remains New York City’s only public burial ground, and it will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.

The Department of Buildings evaluated the structures at Hart Island several times in recent years and directed an emergency demolition due to safety concerns. The additional burial space gained by using the footprint of the former buildings is critical to the continuation of the City’s burial operations. All buildings in the scope of the current demolition project have been photographed and their histories recorded as part of Historic American Buildings Survey Level 2 status.

"Decades of deterioration rendered the Hart Island buildings unsafe, necessitating active emergency demolition work — expected to be completed in 2023"

Acknowledgments: Brooklyn Arts Council, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and NYC Department of Cultural Affairs — with special thanks to the NYC Department of Corrections, CM Corey Johnson, and Untapped New York.

Film Location: Hart Island (Bronx, NY)
Film Team: Aaron Asis and Jett Cain