#RooseveltIsland – Walk with Me, Too

Roosevelt Island

This little village of an island has lots of amenities, many fancy condos, a Main Street, a major Park, The Four Freedoms, watched over by NYS Rangers, and the nice, clean feel of being nearby and faraway.

Views from Qns & RI

Phew

This was a long walk

Sights and sites and even some plaques that might be cited: an arrival on Roosevelt Island

The history is fascinating. I suggest you look it up. It was Hog Island [yes, those kind of hogs]; it was Blackwell Island and before those Minnehanonck. It was also Welfare Island on which there were an asylum, a smallpox hospital and penitentiaries.

In 1973, it was renamed for FDR. Now, a park built in his memory occupies the southern tip. Nicely designed and lushly landscaped it is called The Four Freedoms Park after a January 1941 speech.

You catch waterside views of Manhattan & Queens on RI. The ivy covered ruin is the Smallpox Hospital [circa 1856-75]. The grounds of Four Freedoms Park are lush with springtime. Families of geese are on the slopes.

I caught the Queens bound Q102 on Roosevelt Island and rode all the way to Jackson Av at Queens Plaza. I walked the hefty distance til I reached 1040, the NY Irish Center. My friends LM and her hubs were joining me for what would prove a genuine treat: an Irish reels and jig mixed with Brazilian Samba.

Queens didn’t look this tall when I was a kid living in the borough. I went from Qns Plz to just past the Pulaski. Shout out to the nice baristas at SweetLeaf Coffee at *both* ends of my journey. Good brew, too.

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It was occupied by a series of hospital facilities not so long ago. There was a VA facility just under the 59th Street Bridge, which was accessible by an elevator from the bridge walkway.

Once development started, nearly every inch of the waterfront was taken over by bulky apartment buildings.

I am not a student of Roosevelt Island, but I think they were mostly coops. There is a short bridge to Queens on the eastern shore. A tram and a subway line go to-and-from Manhattan. These are met by a bus that circumnavigates the island.

It’s a dense landscape but a pleasant view from the East River Esplanade.

Neighborly sights

Cherokee Place and the Pavillion abut John Jay Park. The river ripples by us, seen over the FDR traffic. End of the summer season is here so this was the last sighting of the orange umbrellas at poolside.