Randall’s Island

City-Kid Review:

I know what that is!
It’s a family of geese!
That’s the mommy.
She has fourteen babies.
Why is she swimming away from them?

Randall’s Island is a peaceful oasis out on the East River. They don’t even have any barriers to stop you tumbling into the river – that’s how relaxed it is out there. It is an enormous  green park, yes, with sports facilities but with plenty of acreage just to bumble around and enjoy the greenery.

It reminds me a bit of Governor’s Island when it was first decommissioned and before the city started pouring money into it. Don’t get me wrong, we love Governor’s Island but that experience is less like a country park and more like an experience.

If you know me at all, you know I love history. All history. Randell’s island is such a  peaceful place today, especially on a lovely summer’s day, but ’twas not always so.

No, this was an island onto which ‘undesirables’ were dumped – orphans, mentally ill, you name it. Originally two islands, Ward and Randall housed a children’s hospital, an ‘idiot’s asylum’ (it’s actual name), a burial place for indigent or unknown folks called a ‘potters field’, as well as a house for juvenile delinquents. Ward Island was where they dug up and reburied corpses formerly buried in Madison Square and Bryant Parks.

Lovely.

While there still remains a psychiatric hospital on the island –  the largest in the world – along with a psych unit for the criminally insane, you truly would never know it, as you stroll around the bucolic fields and wind your way around the foothills of the RFK bridge,  gazing over the water at Manhattan and Queens.

All that history might make Randall’s Island appear to be the opposite of what it is, which is a quiet and peaceful oasis of calm just a a short walk from the bustling freeways and byways of the rest of the city.

Need to Knows:

There are several ways you can get to Randall’s Island. One of the most fun is to cross the pedestrian bridge at 103rd street. You can cycle here, too. Entrance to the bridge is between 102nd and 103rd on the FDR drive, and it is easiest if you walk along 102nd to get there.  Here is a map with all of the access points indicated.

As far as I could tell, there is one food place on the island which doubles as an information booth and may not be open during the week, except during the summer months.

There are all sorts of every kind of event on the island or you could just bring a blanket, a picnic and enjoy the view.

Cost: Free

Information correct at time of writing. 

Top-Tip

There is a really great Mexican restaurant on 105th and 1st Avenue called Cafe Ollin.

Also, you are not too far away from the best Patsy’s in town, on the corner of 118th and 1st Avenue. It is so good, plus their Patsy’s next door do slices.

Which is your favorite NYC island? Please tell us about it in the comments section.

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