6 ways to discover NYC’s Roosevelt Island

17.09.2024 - 19:25 / lonelyplanet.com / New Yorkers

Sep 17, 2024 • 5 min read

Unfurling like an eel in New York City’s East River, Roosevelt Island is a full 2 miles long yet a mere 800ft across at its widest point.

This long sliver of prime real estate has a fascinating history: for almost 150 years, it was the site of numerous hospitals, prisons, asylums and other grim institutions to which “undesirable” patients and inmates were banished. Over the last half-century, however, a remarkable planned community has taken root, with some 12,000 New Yorkers who live a uniquely low-key version of big-city life now calling the redeveloped island home.

In recent years, further grand projects – including a mighty memorial park and a cutting-edge tech campus – have continued to put space between the island’s troubled history and its lovely present, drawing visitors from all over. And the preferred way to get to the island may be the most exciting part of any excursion here. 

Intrigued yet? Here’s how to get to know Roosevelt Island, in six ways.

Despite its super-central location, Roosevelt Island remained unconnected to the rest of the city for centuries. Today, a road bridge to Queens, a subway stop and a new-ish ferry terminal offer many ways to cross the water – yet none compares to what might be the island’s most famous attraction.

There might be no better ride for the money in New York than the iconic red cable car (or aerial tram) that departs from Midtown Manhattan. Gripping fast-moving steel cables above, the bus-sized cabin quickly makes a vertiginous ascent (almost 250ft!) in a couple of minutes, as it floats with surprising smoothness between a forest of high rises and the tower of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge. Before you know it, the East River is beneath you, and the skyline becomes a spectacular panorama as the tram whisks you across the water. The descent comes quickly – hopefully before you’ve had time to recall that harrowing rescue scene from Spider-Man. All for the price of one MetroCard swipe.

Detour: On your way up, you might catch a quick glimpse of a historic stone-fronted structure between the ultra-modern buildings of E 60th St. Dating to the 18th century, the Mount Vernon Hotel was built as a country inn for day-trippers escaping the clamor of the city, whose limits then ended many miles downtown. (Who needs the Hamptons?) The improbably preserved building offers a fascinating glimpse into Manhattan’s bucolic past.

Native Americans first arrived on Roosevelt Island some 12,000 years ago, before Dutch colonists “purchased” the land in the 17th century and cleared it for farmland. The Blackwell later family settled the island over four generations before selling the whole lot – then known as Blackwell’s Island – to the government in 1828. (The