new york city is full of hidden secrets odd features or interesting facts not known to
most people for example did you know that south of manhattan and east of brooklyn there is an
island in the middle of the harbor like a beautiful oasis in the middle of a sprawling
desert governor's island stands today as a quiet little island with no permanent inhabitants
rather there is a selection of old military forts that are now museums hiking spots and
areas for other recreational activities and events leaving behind many types of trees
hundreds of species of birds and even some chilling ghost stories governor's island is
the complete opposite of the noisy and busy city that surrounds it interestingly enough
the only way to reach this 172 acre island is through a ferry ride while governor's
island is a shadow of its former self this land holds an illustrious history that goes
back hundreds of years far before the united states was even an independent country in fact
this tiny island in new york played a pivotal role in both the american revolutionary war and
the war of 1812 in which american nationhood was successfully protected most people may
have never even heard of governor's island yet its secrets have defined history so join me as
we discover new york's governor's island i'm your host ryan socash and you're watching it's history
before europeans set foot on north american shores the land that would become governor's island
was instead a hunting ground rather than a military installation and tourist attraction
it would later become but even early on people were able to recognize the beauty and uniqueness
of this tiny green speck in the middle of the water you see across cultures this island has
always been regarded as a natural wonder even as it was used for many different purposes by
many different people the lenape people were the native american tribe who lived in the area that
would become manhattan and they called governor's island paganik which refers to the large amount
of nut trees that are on the island it was initially thought that this island was where
some of the lenape communities lived but further archaeological investigation indicates that the
lenape indians did not actually live there rather they would come to the island to hunt fish or
gather food like the aforementioned nuts meanwhile 1609 would mark the year that henry hudson would
reach new york harbor hudson who was employed by the dutch to discover a northern path to asia
instead came across a previously undiscovered land by europeans which would eventually become
new york in this unexplored place hudson found a plethora of natural resources such as timber
and fur so much so that the dutch west india company was formed and they started exploring
all along the coast looking for more and more valuable materials a little over a decade later
a community of families from the french-speaking wallone region in southern belgium began building
settlements in this new land as for the island of paganik they called it not an island a dutch
translation for the lenape name eventually the island was settled by some of the walun families
and as more and more people came over they eventually moved across the water to the larger
island which would later become manhattan overall these settlements would eventually grow into a
dutch colony of new amsterdam with nuttin island being an integral part of the community due to its
easy accessibility by water and its abundance of natural resources then in 1637 a man named voter
van tiller who was the governor director of new amsterdam at the time purchased the entire island
from the lenape and not an island became his own private property van twiller would go on to build
the prominent windmill and military fort both of which would eventually define the island's purpose
for centuries years later though van willer eventually left the new world and traveled back to
the netherlands leaving nuttin island in the hands of the dutch west india company who controlled the
smaller island for the next few decades until the british would arrive throughout the 1660s and the
1670s england began to flex her naval muscles as the kingdom gained more control over north america
through both negotiation and military coercion england was able to slowly gobble up all the dutch
territories in the region for example in 1664 the english navy arrived in the new amsterdam harbor
forcing the dutch to surrender their land not too long after in 1673 the dutch were able to retake
manhattan in the midst of the third anglo-dutch war but following the war's end and the subsequent
peace treaty they actually gave the territory back to the new owners england in return for suriname
in south america not an island along with the rest of new york would now remain english at least for
the time being referring back to the island's natural beauty the english reserved this place
for quote the benefit and accommodation of his majesty governors this is where the island then
got its name governor's island which it still holds to this day over the next century governor's
island and the fort that resided there remained an important part of defense and protection of
england's new york colony come the 1770s and the american colonists have grown so far apart from
their english motherland that they began to feel as if they were an independent nation and people
the harsh british taxation and other intrusive policies then ignited the spark of revolution and
the american war for independence began being one of the biggest cities throughout the 13 colonies
new york city and the rest of the new york colony more importantly who controlled it was deemed a
crucial priority by both general george washington's continental army and the british
army under general william howe in fact new york city became the stage of the first massive battle
of the revolutionary war in the battle of brooklyn general washington's continental army wilted under
the relentless bombardment of britain's naval siege while washington himself and his army were
cleverly able to evade capture and eventually regroup before changing their grand strategy
the british would occupy and hold new york for the entirety of the war
where governor's island was repurposed into a british fort by the end of the conflict though
washington's brilliant yet unorthodox tactics paid off and the british were forced to surrender
after a long war of attrition this meant that the united states had successfully fought
and won their independence as a brand new nation one of the first nationwide policies that the u.s
implemented was the protection of their borders and coasts this was crucial given that the new and
fragile country which spanned a wide territory and contained many natural resources was vulnerable
to exploitation or even invasion by one of the big european colonial powers they especially had
britain on their mind who wanted to reincorporate her rebellious north american colonies back into
her empire the u.s government went about this defense policy which was called the federal
system of coastal defense by building several forts along the east coast at the most important
harbors or ports these forts were meant to be strong enough to repel naval attacks but they
also house the local militia as well because of governor's island's strategic position in new york
two new forts were constructed here fort jay and castle williams 4j was built in 1794 and was
constructed upon the old existing fort which was originally built by the dutch and ultimately saw
combat in the revolutionary war two decades later a man named colonel jonathan williams who was also
the first american military engineer developed an experimental defense mechanism which involved
a series of smaller fortifications placed in a circular formation around the harbor this whole
complex would then be known as castle williams both forts played pivotal roles in the war of 1812
as the formidable american defense stopped the british from entering new york's harbor forcing
them to resort to a naval blockade instead will historians debate over which side truly won the
war if even there was a victor given that both the u.s and britain were able to inflict heavy damage
upon each other the fact of the matter is that the u.s was able to validate their independence
by successfully defending their sovereignty and remaining separate from the british empire with
the forts on governor's island playing a huge role in the success however by the mid-1800s
the forts on governor's island grew obsolete with the emergence of new military technologies
such as iron-clad warships that could easily penetrate the defense of those
older fortifications but even still governors island remained an important military installation
used for many non-combat roles such as recruitment and training centers barracks stockpiles an
arsenal an army school and even briefly a military prison in the civil war meant to hold confederate
soldiers in 1878 governors island became the army headquarters for the military division of the
atlantic and department of the east meaning they coordinated major army operations in the eastern
half of the u.s and atlantic ocean because of this drastic change and purpose their personnel also
now changed with many high-ranking officers moving in along with their families of course resulting
in a small quiet suburb being constructed despite geographically being completely surrounded by the
loud bustling and crowded new york city governor's island with the army headquarters and adjacent
town was ironically the opposite of new york city being a generally peaceful and calm community
this all culminated in the cultural transformation of governor's island seeing it go from a simple
yet necessary military fortification meant to protect new york to now a prestigious and
high-class institution where some of the most important military decisions were made alongside
a small and quiet town for instance the famous d-day invasion of normandy france in june of
1944 which eventually led to the allied liberation of europe and world war ii was practically planned
here at governor's island as a result the greater new york society then became enamored
with governors island and its inhabitants often reporting about their activities in newspapers
such as prominent officers marriages important military decisions or events beyond the prestige
of the army's headquarters being on the island it's also likely that the new york citizens
were so interested in governor's island due to the aura of mystery which surrounded it as well as its
uniqueness and drastic societal differences to the rest of the city by 1964 internal changes within
the us military would also see change arrive on the shores of governor's island that year the
u.s army announced it would close down its new york post and hand them over to the coast guard
by the midway point of that decade governor's island was no longer the army's headquarters
in control of the eastern united states rather now it was a coast guard outpost ensuring the
safety of new york's coast while the day-to-day operations on governor's island were now
vastly different and carried less weight the place that the island held in new york society remained
the same with the fascination and curiosity staying after 30 years under the banner of the
us coast guard the island's two century-long service as an american military fortification
would come to an end as the ever-changing modern world meant coastal forts like those here were
no longer worth their high price of maintenance nowadays the island is under civilian control
and has no permanent residence but it is a massively popular tourist attraction where
many can behold the natural beauty as well as the illustrious history which existed on the island
despite being such a small piece of land governor's island has seen a long lineage of
american history going back before the unified and distinct american culture was ever formed
let alone the sovereign nation and yet if you didn't know any better you'd easily overlook
it but perhaps that's the point anyhow thanks for watching hit that subscribe button for new
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miss our video about the history of newspaper row until next time this is ryan socash signing off